The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-06-24

was the little chemists wife, who years
before had been his fathers housekeeper,
who had been present when he frs:
opened his eyes Oh the world.
my poor boyi My poor boy!" she
said, clasping his manacled hands.
He kissed her on the cheek, without a
word, and hurried on into his prison,
and tho good world was shut out. In
prison he refused to see all visitors, even
Medallion, the little chemists wife,
and the good Father Fabrc. Letters,
too, he refused to accept and read. He
had no contact, wished no contact, with
the outer world, but lived his hard,
lonely life by himself, silent, brooding,
studious, for now books were to him a
pleasure. And he wrote, too, but never
to any soul outside the prison. This life
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, and then he saw nothing,
heard nothing. He had entered his pris-
OF a wild, excitable, dissipated youth,
and he had become q mature, quiet,
cold, broodirg man. Five years had
done the work of 90. He lived the life
Of the prison, yet he was not a part of
it, nor yet was he a 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 at last it became a part of his
real life, which was lived largely at the
window, where he looked out at the
pigeons on the roof Of the hospital.
"She vas sorry for me-, he said many
a time to himself. He was sorry for
himself, and he was shaken with misery
often, SO that he rocked to and fro as he
sat on his bed, and a warder heard him
cry out even in the last days of his i'm
~prisonment, 80 God, canst thou do
everything but speak," And again.
THAT hour, the memory of that hour,
in exchange for my ruined life!'
But there were times when he was
very quiet and calm, and he spent hours
in watching the ways of the pigeons,
n he vas doing this one day when the
jailer came to him and said: IN. Con-
verse. you are free. The governor has
cut off five years from your sentence"
Then he was told that people were
waiting without-Medallion and the
little chemist and his wife and others
more important-but he would not 60
to meet them, and he stepped into the
old world alone at dawn the next morn
ing and looked out upon a still, sleep
ing town. And there was no one STIR
ring i'll the place, but suddenly there
stood before him a woman, who had
watched by the prison gates all night,
and she put out a hand in entreaty and
said, with a breaking voice, you are
free at last!'
He remembered her-the woman who
had looked at him SO anxiously and sor-
rowfully in the courtroom. He looked
at 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.
II was sorry for you," she replied.
but that is no reason"
Il once committed q crime" she
whispered, with shrinking bitterness.
That's bad" he said. "Were you
punished?"
She shook her head and answered,
mo"
THAT'S worse" he added.
Il let 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 i~ntently.
II had little child, was her reply.
And the other?"
"He was alone in the world" she
bald.
A bitter smile crept to his lips, and
his eyes were all afre, for a strange
thought came to him. Then he shut his
eyes, and when he opened them again
discovery was in them.
II remember you now," he said. 81
remember I walked and saw you looking
at me that night! Who was the father
OF your child?" he asked eagerly.
Jean Vigot," she replied. "He left
me to s~tarve."
oiA huoSCiG 1 ulS uSdtui n0 SdlO
quietly and gladly.
She nodded. He was silent for a mo-
ment.
1.-The child still l~ives?'' he asked.
She nodded again. "Well. let it be So"
he added. But you owe me five years
and a lost reputation"
II with to God / 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 he turned away from her.
s'W2n't you forgive me?" she asked
bitterly.
Won't 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
W it to you" Her haggard, hunted
face made him sorry. He, too, had suf-
fered.
cts all right" he answered gently.
"Take care Of your child"