The record-union., 1894-10-27

"ANsoN KANNoCK."
Never had 'Struther Hammock in all his
/ worthless life been so still and hushed as
now.
There is no such bravery as the un-
| conscious valor of integrity; no such
coWardlce as that skulklng behind hui
man injustice. 'Struther kannock, pale
and trembling before the accusative and
threatening words penned by dead and
| harmless hand, was now infinitely a
more abject creature than the weakest
! human he had ever ground to nothing
ness and despair.
The blow had shrunk and withered
him. 1t had swept his passion and rage
from him. 1t had siIenced his brawling
| tongue. AS water vanishes in a deadly
| flame, so had his very vitalities been con-
sumed within him. The wretch who but
a moment before had found its keenest
delight IN scourglng helplessness, in
! planning ruin iOr the upright and the
| GOOD, now with a sickening quiver of hui
man dependency found himself reaching
| out appealingIy to the feeble strand OF
! hope and pity binding him to the out
/ ragged ones about him.
de burned the letter and its envelope
and rubbed the black and crinkly parti-
cIes TO powder between his hands. He
staggered to the window and, peering
! into the dark toward the silent graves
hoarsely whispered:
"Anson?-Anson? Don't-don't come
| here. Don't! 1 got the letter. pll-pll
! be there at the time you sayin
Then he made his way haltingly to the
! library door, opened it and listened long
and anxiously as if for approaching foot
steps.
Susan? Susan Kanuock?" he called
family and apologetically.
The woman was beside him in a mo-
ment, leading him timorously back to
his Old armchair.
Mercy! Brother Anstruther, are you
ilH has anything happened?' she
begged in frightened tones.
"Eh? Happened? oh, no, no, no.
Nothing happened; nothing happened,
Susan. Sister Susan, nothing's hap
pened. l just wanted to say pve-Ive
changed my mind about Halloween:
about the kitchen; about the young folks;
about the wood and the lights and any
any little things thatlI make 'em all
welcomed
The poor woman looked at him as
| though doubtful of her own senses.
And Susan, / would somehow like to
! son-since Anson left you ali here. fairly
! friendly and comfortable, Susan?"
The man was actually pleading to the
| tortured human before him.
Perhaps faint flush mantled her face;
a flush kindled by her endless indirni-
ties which had been borne in silence for
| the sake Of the dead and the living; but
she only answered amazedly,
"Yes, Brother Anstruther"
He had now fumD Dled about until he had
grasped her hand. She remem bered ever
after that it was icy cold. that it fluttered
| as if palsied, but that it still clung TO hers
as though it held fast to 'Struther Kan
nock's only hope.
"Sister Susan,' he began slowly and
! huskily, and as though 1t were difficult
| for him to speak. SISTER Susan? Pve
! been thinking for "a time you were do
ing too much around here; too much.
Pve been thinking, and l just now
| thought OF 1t again, that Bert might have
a few more-a few more advantages; a
| few more, Susan. There's Edith, too.
| Now Edith ought to spruce up a bit: like
! other girls, you know. You see I've been
thinking about-about all these things,
when, maybe, you thought L wasn't
| thinking about 'em, Susan?"
lie said il all so deprecatingly, so iusti-
fyingly and with the tone OF sufferer
begging for sympathy and encourage
ment, that the broken life before him. in
maze of wonder, anxiety, dread and
hope. faltered teebly.
Its good of you-its like you-Brotb-
! er AnstrutherW
$50 it is, so it is! l wish somehow An
son could know it, Susau!"
Tears now flowed silently down her
! careworn face.
THAT is-if he could know it.n This
with stealthy glance toward the desk
/ and the window. "Drv your fears ha-
| fore you go back among 'em, Susan.
Everything will go right here now. sis
| ter. Won't you ask Mr.. Penruth if he
can come and sit with me here for a few
minutes?"
She started Immediately to do his bid
ding as was her wont. But he still held
! her hand, ioath to let it 60
Susan, isis everything all right now
at Kannock Manse; buried" this word
| compelled another swift glance at the
desk and window-''forgotten started
right again, now"
''Oh, yes, yes, yes'' she moaned with
sudden outburst of feeling. Every
/ thing, everything. God bless you for all
the kindness you mean, Brother An
| strutherin
She disappeared quickly into the dark
| hallway. while 'Struther Hammock. dazed
| by the first reverential blessing of his
life, sat there in the cheerless old room
doubtful whether it was benediction or
! a curse.
With fine, strong tread Charles PEN
ruth soon entered the library
He seemed to wholly ignore 'Struther
/ kannock's gestured invitation to a seat
/ beside him, and, walking straight to the
! fireplace set his arm solidly upon it's tall
! D1aDllo OF llu1e-Sbaln6d oak. his head
resting lightly within the palm of mis-
| hand.
! In this posture, and with silence and
lmpasslveness which almost suggested
/ some figure of IMPLYING Justice, he
looked calmly down upon the abiect man
/ before him as, moment before punish
ment, he might have sternly regarded
some incorrigible culprit of the MillyaIe
! village school.
Not handsome man was Charles PEN
/ ruth. But there was a certain power re-
yealed IN his strong. huge and loosely
jointed frame, IN his angular features. his
quiet gray eyes and his almost massive
head,
Two or three men the world has known
| with frame and face like his. stand ON
monuments for their humane and heroic
| deeds; and this man, in his strange and
placid face, told story. to those who
could see, of illimitable patience. COM
passion and determination; above ali. of
some purpose and quest and mission
whose working out had sc stormed his
soul with pity, regret and unbending re-
/ solve and implacable detestation, that
lines of sadness were already furrowed
in his face of stone.
The two men each looked long time
into the face Of the other before either
broke the silence. 'Struther Hammock
| was the first TO speak: