People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-04-06
BLIND JUSTICE.
BY HELEN b, MATHERS,
CHAPTER V-C0NrINrrn.

NAIAl N-NON
/ gave him his reward with a
heavy heart, and when he had lit my
fire, arranged my luggage, and taken
my orders for what | required from
the village, he retired.
With him went Judiths last
chance, and day after day, night
after night, brooded in thai solitary
hut, trying to build possibilities out
of impOssibilities, theories out of
utilities, until at last my brain
worked no longer, and whether sit
ting by the hearth, or wandering
about those glorious cliffs, to whose
beauty | had become blind. | pos
sessed less intelligence and reason
ing power than a dog.
Jake brought me daily the food,
fuel, and drink that | needed. but We
exchanged bare syllables, and | saw
that he feared me, believing with the
rest of the village, that | was mad.
Shadows would steal about my
door after dark, half-seen faces
peered curiously in on me as the fire.
light illumined the corners of the i'll
Omened room, but Steve was not one
of those furtive visitors, he had not
attempted to see me since | parted
with him at the prison gates.
| guessed that he spent every
allowable moment with her, and at
others pursued his old calling as
fisherman, and | knew that hope
must be as dead in his heart as it
was in mine.
CHAPTER VI.
Twas sitting one evening before
the fire, neither sleeping nor waking.
a vegetable more than a thinking
human being, when | heard Jake
knock at the door.
| said Come in" listlessly with
out opening my eyes. but the tread
of two men instead OF one sounded
on the threshold, and / looked up to
see man OF great stature following
Jake, clad in picturesque costume
of whose nationality | was not at first
sure.
"Awh, " said Jake, "here be fren'
O. Seth TrelOar's. Him be coined a
long journey over t see 'un, so l
brotfed 'un here. Iim's in his tan
trums cos him can't say how-dee doc.
but On'y Seth Treloar, Seth Treloar,
loike any Jimmy-ninny."
My heart leaped, my pulse bounded,
as | looked at the stranger, for here
was confirmation strong that Judith
had told me the truth about the man
in Syria to whom Seth would have
sold her, and if she had told the
truth in this one particular, why not
in all?
He stood looking at me in an atti-
tude of unconcerned grace, hearing
but not understanding Jake's words,
and having now decided what his
nationality was, | counted it a piece
of rare good fortune that | was able
to address him in mis- own tongue.
| had lived good part of my life in
Vienna, and had almost as thorough
q knowledge of Austrian as of Eng
fish In fact my one gift was the
gift of tongues, and | could talk
argot in half a dozen. | dismissed
Jake and babe the new conner be
seated.
He frightened visibly as l spoke,
and the smile frightened what was
otherwise a strong if not forbidding
face of pronounced Austrian type,
and as he took the seat opposite
mine, | was able to define his class as
that of a rich herdsman, probably
from Upper or Middle Syria, where
the men are famous for their vigOr
and physical strength, and indeed
his provincialisms of speech (Which
l do not find it necessary to repeat
here) soon convinced me that | was
right
"You came to see Seth Treloar?'
| said, as he sat impassive, waiting
for me to speak.
YES" he said, I've waited fOl
him four, five. many weeks, and still
he came not-so | am here
seth Treloai is dead, said very
distinctly.
The mans face changed, but he
did not move a hairs breadth from
his attitude, aud | thought had
never seen so impossible q mortal
or one less likely TO be overthrow
by fate than he.
Seth Treloar is dead" he re
peated slowly, "and where is Seth
Treloar's sister,"
Though he knew not word OF Eng
fish save Seth Treloar's name, and the
name OF the place he had come to. he
asked the question calmly, as though
1t were perfectly natural thing t
journey thousand miles to fetch ;
woman whom he had never had seen
"She is alive" l said slowly.
"And well, and beautiful" he said
"She is WE'LL" l said, land she
must always be beautiful"
His face flushed, but he said calm
ly, "She is at Trevenick? May Sc,
herr"
"She is not here. When Sell
died, ! took his hut and am lirino