Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-09-20

be so haunted by her memory?
Every look of hers, her words, her
gestures, the little yellow gown,
were as plain to him after year
as if he had seen her but yesterday.
He had striven hard to forget, to do
his duty. Yet was there harm in writ
ing just few lines? The narrow path
was terribly lonely in life-not path
that had been his in the past; and yet
and yet she was child. That stern
honest old woman believed in him and
trusted to his honor.
While he mused, the shock-headed
boy knocked and thrust in his freck-
led face. Gent ter see yer" he said,
hoarser than usual, for there had been
a baseball match the day before, and
he had been excused from duty, because
his "mudder was sick"
"Show him in," said Oliver, locking
the letter in his desk. The last man
he expected to see entered the room,
shut the door behind him, took chair,
then, with almost threatening ges-
ture, moved it close to the desk. Henri
de Restaudl
CHAPTER VIII
Oliver wondered if the Frenchman
had come to kill him. There was no
time to cry out or to move in self-de-
fense. II De Restaud came to murder,
he was prepared to do it quickly; up in
the valley of the Troublesome he had
been called good shot. A vagrant
ray of sunshine filtered in between
the Stats of the closed blind, resting
on faded spot on the carpet. Oliver
idly watched it, while thoughts of his
past, the present, the woman who had
Just written him, went through his
mind swifter than ever electricity car
ried message.
crash and darkness. divers fingers
frightened on the arm of his chair. His
lips quivered. He seemed to be gazing
down the unfathomable depths OF
eternity The sins of his past came
and leered at him; the awful, unan-
swered question of the centuries, of all
recorded time, haunted him. "And
afterwards?"
He had heard that madmen quailed
at bravery, were deferred from evil
purpose by quiet common sense. So
he looked steadily at his visitor. What
a dreadful creature he had becomel
Nor was it liquor alone that had
crazed his brain. There is a drug so
easy of purchase, SO pleasing of effect
at first, that insensibly it steals away
reason, caution, decency. On the hairy
hand of the Frenchman were tiny red
dots; and similar dots tattooed all his
body. He had not learned to take
morphine in the convenient capsules,
and his dissipation was attended by q
tiny pain like the prick of conscience.
He was terribly pale, with the glazed
pallor of a corpse, his eyes weirdly
bright, his hair, few months ago un-
touched by time, streaked with gray.
OF all sad drift on the shores of time a
human wreck like this is the most
dreadful.
"You are surprised to see me-" De
Restaud said, calmly, but his long
thin fingers trembled, showing the ag.
itation he strove to repress.
~ should be glad to assist you in
any way" Oliver answered, his voice
strangely hoarse, the words coming
with difficulty.
II think you can," said the other,
slowly, ''for you seem to have influence
with her and that old she-dragon, her
aunt l know all about that night
your visit down the railroad. l know
have son, and for his sake l want
you to help me-"
What can l do? Surely you must
have lawyer of your own. l would
not undertake your case for any con-
sideration."
''Do not be too hasty, Mr.. Oliver.
do not require your services in any
legal capacity, but, as you say in this
country in your labor difficulties, as ar
arbitrator. My nephew in France is
dead, and my father writes me to come
hone and bring my wife and child"
"She will never consent" Oliver said
hastily. "Her aunt would not let heI
60"
IT think husband has some rights
Mr.. Oliver. You see I am very temper