Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1895-06-27
!umed his scr,bbli1g lnous.r,ously.


The Sphinx In his room was still -
Ing over the pages Of the register. But
he was.not looking among the K'A II
was through the long list Of nsmes b.
ginning with Il that he hunted. 1T
must bA herel" he kept murmurlne 70
himself. 1T ought to Be herel Why
can't I find IN"
Then he ran the pages over again.
They Auttered from his withersd
Angers-winding 'sheets on which were
written the names Of those dead and
gone, Of events recollection Of which
had long since faded from the minds
Of most men. But they did not yield
the name he sought ats strange"
he said "This 10 . complete record; It
has never been wanting before. Why
can't ! find II? They must have known
about II when II happened"
Then, all at once, one Of his hands
slipped from tho book, and his head
dropped among the leaves, crushins
them nat; and tears ran between the
thin fingers outspread there.
lie remained there for some time.
Only the clicking Of the telegraph
instrument In the news room, dull
hum Of voices from the rooms beyond
where discussion was going on, and
an occasional question asked and
answered In the local room came to
his ears; and even those he did not
hear. Then bell began TO boom the
hour, and mechanically he counted the
strokes
Eleven o'clock The fact, duly In.
pressed on his mind, swoke him To .
sudden sense Of the work before him.
He raised his head. His face was
drawn, and his eyes, swollen - their
lids were from tears, seemed to have
sunk In their socketa He sat for
moment, looking at the book before
him. The leaf that was uppermoat
was one that he had scanned many
times before. At It's top was printed
the letter n.
A minute later he had drawn 4 large
bundle Of copy.paper toward him and
was writing on II. He wrote slowly 1t
first, almost laboriously. But soon his
pen moved more quickly, and sheet
after sheet Of the paper was covered
and pushed to one side
Hsrdin's pen moved INCREASINGLY.
When midnight struck he was work.
ing with fierce energy which told Of
a purpose that defed fatigue But he
sent up no copy" to the composing
room as he wrote; the pages acccumu-
lated on his desk in careless heap
1t was after 1890 when he dropped
his pen and sunk back In his chair for
minute. But 1t was only for min
ute Then he picked up the bundle Of
copy, roughly rearranged 1t, wrote
use all-Rush" at the top OF the first
sheet, and sent It upstairs by 3 boy,
He put on his overcoat, turned OF
the incandescent ligh and walked into
the local room and to the city editors
desk. Mr.. Campbell" he said, in q
low voice, II have to 90 out. / guess
you won't need me any more?'
mo, not tonight, replied Campbell.
You've sent up great story Of that
Kremer murder, Marsh tells me. II II
q beat?"
ives, It's IA beat, . said the other.
There was mingled sadness and bitter.
ness In his tones. W.
Good night Campbell answered,
not noticing anything
GOOD night" repeated Hardin.
Then he turned and walked toward
the door. But in the doorway he
paused, and then came back to Camp.
bells desk.
nMr, Campbell" 10 said, earnestly.
~ have never lied TO you?"
"Why, mol" exclaimed Campbell In
surprise.
well, and I'm not lying now, Re.
member, whatever you may think Of
me, have told the truth"
''of course!' said the city editor,
Marsh's words recurring to him. Hsr-
din certainly was losing his grip The
Sphinx turned away, and this time
walked out the door and down the
stairway Il the street. '''' '''''' .
Halt an hour later there was great
excitement in the Globe Office Ths
proof-reader sent down galley proof
covered with query marks, and along
with 1t Hardin's copy. Campbell looked
over 1t all and could not believe the
evidence Of his eyes He took the
proof and copy in to the managing edit.
or, and they had a consultation.
Then, just as they had decided that
1t would be best to "kill' the whole Of
the story which Hardin had written,
Marsh came In, In q state OF new e.
element, to call Campbell to the
phone, Some one wished to speak to
him from police headquarters. What
the city editor heard from there deter.
mined him to publish the article IS It
stood. "
Tho account OF tho Kremer murder
which the Globe presented on It's first
page that morning was the talk Of tho
town. But II was not the story Of the
arrest Of Boch, the supposed murderer,
that riveted attention. That much WAS
common property among the dailies.
II was the two columns In which WA
set forth the confession Of . man who,
for twelve long years, had borne the
burden Of his guilt and striyen TO live
down Q recollection that only grew
more clear, and would not be- forgot:
ten. And then at last, when II could
DO endured no longer, and to tell ITO
Others was the one relief. the sphinx
had unsealed his lips,
But Campbell, who, out Of pity Tor
the old man, went to the police head.
quarters that same morning to see him,
found he was too late. Hardin's drawn
face was more peaceful than II had
ever been In life, and fear NO longer
looked from his eyes. A forgiving
God had locked the Sphinx's lips again,
and this time they were locked forever