The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-04-19

guards. 1t was the little chemists wife,
who, years before had been his fathers
housekeeper, WHO had been present when
he first opened his eyes OF, the world. T.:
My poor boy! My poor boy!' she said,
clasping his n,anacled hands. '.s:.. y.
He kissed her on the cheek, without a
| word, and hurried on into his. prison, and
the good world was shut out. In prison
he refused to see all visitors. even Me-
dallion. the little chemists wife, and the
good Father Fabre. Letters, too, he re-
fused to accept and read. He had no
contact, wished no contact. with the out
er world. but lived his hard, lonely life
by himself. silent. brooding, studious-for
now books were to him Il pleasure. And
nc wrote. too, but never to any soul out
side the prison. This lite had nothing to
do with the world from which he came,
and he meant that it should not.
so perfect a prisoner was he that the
warders protected him from visitors, and
he was never but once or twice stared at,
aud then he saw nothing, heard nothing.
He had entered his prison. Il wild, ex-
become mature. quiet, cold, brooding
main. Five years had done the work Of
twenty. He lived the life of the prison,
yet he was not Il part of it, nor yet was he
Il part Of the world without And the
face of the woman who looked at him so
strangely in the courtroom haunted him,
now and then, so that ut last it became a
largely at the window, where he looked
out ut the pigeons on the roof of the
hospital.
Ssh. was sorry for me-" he said, many
4, time to himself. He was sorry for.
himself. and he was shaken with his
misery often, so that he rocked to and fro
as he sat on his bed. and Il warder heard
him cry out, even in the last days Of his
Imprisonment: "Oh. God. canst Thou
do everything but speak?' And again,
That hour! the memory of that hour,
in exchange for my ruined life!'
But there We're times when he was
very quiet and calm, and he spent hours
in watching the ways of the pigeons.
And he was doing this one day, when the
jailer came to him and said: "Monsieur
Converse. you arc free. The governor has
cut off five years from your sentence"
Then he was told that people were
waiting STANDARDIZATION, and the lit
important But he would not 80 to meet
them, and he stepped into the old world
ut dawn the next morning and looked
out upon a still, sleeping town. There
was no ono stirring in the place, but
suddenly there stood before him a wom-
all night. and she put out hand in en-
treaty, and said, With breaking voice,
You are free ut last!'
He remembered her-the woman who
had looked ut him so anxiously and sor-
rowfully in the courtroom. He looked
ut her kindly now, yet he was dazed, too,
with his new advent to freedom and the
good earth.
why did you come to meet me?" he
asked
y was sorry for YOU" she replied.
But that is no reason"
Il once committed 4 crime" she whis-
pe,r,cSd', with shrinking bitterness;
punished?"
She shook her head and answered,
NJ $rhat'z worzr.'' he added.
Il lot some one else take my crime
upon him and be punished for it," she
said, an agony in her eyes.
why was that:' he said, looking at
her intently.
-" -. had little child,'' was her reply.
'tIe was alone in the world" she said.
a bitter smile crept to his lips, and
thought came to him. Then he shut his
eyes, and when he opened them again
discovery was in them.
Il remember you nOw,' he said. II
remember | walked and saw you looking
at me that night! Who was the father
of your child?" he asked, eagerly.
Jean V,iigot,' she replied, The left me
to starye."
Il am innocent of his DEATH he said
quietly and gladly.
She nodded. He was silent for mo-
ment
1.-THE child still lives?" he asked. She
nodded again. well, let it be so,'' he
added, but you owe me five years-and
Il wish to God 1 could give them
back" she cried, tears streaming down
her checks 1T was for my child, he
WAS SO young!'
1T can't be helped now," he said, and
ne tn. tTrned away from her: ~, ~
bitterly.
Wont you give me back those five
years. he replied, meaningly.
IF the child did not need me I would
give my life,"' she answered, Il owe it to
YOU Her haggard, hunted face made
him m sorry; He, too, had suffered. ,
Take care of your child'
Again he moved away from her and
went down the little hill, with cloud
gone from his face that had rested there
five years. Once he turned round. The
woman was gone, but over the prison a
off ack his Gf a tn Se Tbsn b HE x tSS
through the town looking neither to right
nor left, and came to his own house,
where the summer morning was already
entering the open windows, though he
had looked to find the place closed and
dark: The little chemists wife met him
at the door. She could not speak, nor
could he, but he kissed her, as he had
done when he went condemned to prison.
Then he passed on to his own room, and
entering. sat down before the open win
dow and peacefully drank in the glory
of a new world. But more than once
he choked down sob that rose in his
throat