Morris tribune., 1895-08-14

: awfully sorry 1t happened" Buckle.
} started for the door.
Mrs. Brown-Mr. Brown. Help
murder"
J ooh, for heavens sake DON'T" erie,
} Buckley.
81 will. just as soon as | can ge
, breath and strength enough mean t,
, wake the house, the neighbors--th,
; whole town, if can"
'sNo, you won't!'' Buckley started
across the room.
, ''Stop!" she cried.
He stopped. The voice was com
manding. 1t seemed already quite
strong enough to scream. He said
"You promised not to scream"
''But you forced me to promise"
''Are you going to scream"
sI am" She was getting her breath
"Oh, don't; please don't. If wanted
to I could hurt you. / don't want to
hurt you. All! have pity on me-"
The bold, bad sophomore was down
on his knees, with his hands clasped
toward the dark, where the voice came
from He was very sorry for himself.
you stay right there in the moon.
light"
Right here?'
Right there; and if you dare to
move I'll scream with all my might"
Buckley first shivered, and then froze
as stiff as If hair-trigger rife were
pointing at him. "How long must I
stay here?" he asked, without moving
his head.
Until my hus-until daylight" re-
turned the voice.
until daylight" repeated Buckley.
There was something impressive in the
deep, rich voice of this tall young
woman, and, whoever she was, Buck
ley could tell from the refined tones,
that she was a lady. He could just
make out the CLEAN of her face and OF
one arm in the dark corner.
"Ple ase, oh, please, whoever you
are" he began, in earnest, pleading
tones, won't you forgive me, and let
me go?"
There was no answer.
81 am gentleman-in indeed am! /
wouldn't harm girl for the world.
Please let me go. I'll be fired-I mean,
expelled from college for this I'll be
disgraced for life. I'll"
''Stopp' The voice seemed to be
calm now. ''While it may be true
that you did not intend to break into
my room with intent to rob or injure
defenseless woman, yet, by your own
confession, you came to torment a
weaker person. You wanted to haze
one of the freshmen, in this house, that
was it. And when my husband"
"Oh have mercy on me. Won't you
have mercy?" Then he began to tell
her what a good boy he had always
been, and how he had always gone to
church, and how fond his mother was
of him, and that he was the pride and
ambition of his family, and similar
rot, showing how completely scared he
was. "Just think what this means to
me-" he concluded. ''If Tn fred from
college, I'll never come back. I'll be
disgraced for life. All my prospects
will be blighted, my life ruined, and
my mothers heart broken"
She gave little hysterical sob, as, if
the strain was to great for her. Eyes,
for your poor mothers sake; yes, gol'
she exclaimed.
''Oh, thank you with all my heart.
My mother would, too, if she could
know. I don't deserve to be treated
so well. 1 shall always think of you
as my merciful benefactress. I can
never forgive myself for causing you
pain. Oh, thank you"
What happy stroke of his to call
for mercy in his mothers name. This
was an appeal that touched a respon-
sive chord in the heart of this pure
woman before him that neither apol.
ogy or pleading could soften. Perhaps
the name called up to her some vision
of her own dear, sweet-faced angel
mother, now no more. What mattered
the how and the why? He was free
again was enough for himl
Buckley, the sophomore, who. had
strobe into that room so manfully, in
the full pride of his sophomorish
strength and orange and black,
grovelled across the room and out oil
the door, then tiptoed his way down
the hall stairs, silently pulled back
the latch of the door, and sneaked of
like dog with his tail between his
legs.
The outside air did him good, aud by
the time he reached his impatient class
mates he had thought up fairly good
lie about the freshman's being i'll, quite
seriously ill, and about his stopping to
look after him bit, which they nd.
mitted was the only thing to do under
the circumstances, though it was
blamed hard lines, after all the trouble
they had taken. Better luck next
time, Buck" they said, and went to
bed.
BY the ten o'clock mail next morning
Buckley received letter in strange
handwriting. It said: Just as a tall
woman looks short in a mans makeup,
so does short man look tall in a
woman's makeup, and you should
know that blondes are hard to recog-
nize in brunette wigs. could have
done more artistic acting if you had
come up earlier, when had on my full
costume. You ought to know that
real girl wouldn't have behaved quite
that way. You see you still have