The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-01-08


A Joke Oh the old fcllow."
IA sorry joke. indeed. Langford's
Jokes generally do not require cNplana-
ton. but hope lac will be ready with "A
substantial one this time" and the |
speaker passed on, leaving Kate alone
with this dreadful intelligence.
And She had no alternative but 10
suffer. She could not go TO the miser-
able young man, though no one in the
world loved him so well. And he, as the |
network OF evidence closed around him,
drew himself up austerely within his
suffering self In reply 10 sad l'ttic
note Of sympathy he refused Kate the
simple comfor, Of helping him bear his
trouble, because, forsooth, he would
disgrace her. forgetting, foolish man.
that woman's love is his mamma In the
wilderness.
The poor girl had nothing left TO do
but to dread the future and brood over
the past--that beautiful Sunday MORN
| ing sweet with rosemary; but she re-
membercd, too, the poisonous Jimpsons
they gathered, and all the chatting talk
came back TO her like knocking spirits
TO increase her anxiety. Her unhappi-
ness and discontinue Were complete
when she was subpoenaed as n witness
for the prosecution.
All, me, in the presence of that Mex
can Jury all those innocent words, the
reckless fun. were like stones around
Landlords neck. and the penitentary,
If nothing worse. yawned before him.
Kate had not seen him since his ar
rest; and now. rs she looked into his
pale face-into his sad, dark eyes. so diff
ferent from the merry ones she had
parted with-she could have cried out
at the change. One moment he gazen
long and earnestly in her face, then he
turned resolutciy away. aud from
thence forward seer1ed oblivicl,s OF her
, presence.
The girl was recalled 10 herself. tho
curious crowd in the room, and ali the
miserable circumstances by question
. from the prosecuting attorney:
/ "You saw the defendant enter the de
Z eeased's house on the day Of his death z
E "Yes. but il was just for fun"
sWas the deceased at home"
ooh. -well-why, ! don't thinl
/ So"
o Ibid the defendant say he was not :?
: -but--why | know he wasn''
i though"
"How did defendant seem when h
r came out?"
n "Why. just warm from running I
e catch up with me-
Rather excited-red in the face, PEI
n haps?"
a "yes. for IT was very warm"
II "What did he say?"
"Only that he had put cactus in tn
II old mans bed. That's just how he los
" his handkerchief there. you see"
n But the lawyer did not exactly "see
and he continues
r. "What did defendant say TO the Me-
% lean. Garcia. in your presence, abo,
- numbering the man Sandoval?"
a. As that question was put to Kate
IN suddenly started clew in her min
ri as n flash of lightning sometimes r
ID vcals a person at your window in Il
4. darkest midnight. For moment II
r. flash of thought blinded her. and 81
could not answer. even stammercd nj
y made so bad matter of it. when 81
did, that the poor defendant represss
n croan. Her thoughts were all IL
Ia time intensely taken up with this ne
idea, even when she heard this your
H. man sentenced to the penitentiary Il
u years for mansaughtcr.
- No one pretended to believe that Ian
ford deliberately planned the murde
"A only that il came about from pra
teal joke to quarrel; thus the sc
NJ. tence.
y, Kate saw Lapgford moment in Il
=, hall. as the sheriff was taking him ava
=, and SO crushed and miserable he W
II, that her heart nearly broke at the sig
of him. With her eyes streaming wi
-. tears she ran to his side and clasped o
~ of his cold hands in her hot ones. II
~. even then he would not allow his IN
fortune to compromise her. Putti
~ her gently aside. he said. in tones I
~ low for anyone else TO hear:
oe please pass on. l cannot allow tn
No Kate. ! am a jnilbird now. Good-b.
nd The next moment a massive door h
closed between them. Never to mt
, n again? The gricf-stricken girl COT
on have fallen where she stood AT the re;
zation Of il all. Then there was
lid part i'm it. She wondered, in her ago
val of fear. how much her words !
weighed against him. But she did
lose sight of her clew.
IL can work for him anyway,
said.
Iangford was innocent, of couI
Then some one else was guilty.
reasoned, and she had never forgot
/, the evil. covetous CLEAN in the man G
" cia's eyes Nobody else saw IT. howe'
= and nobody took any interest in
~ wild words. She must work out
MI problem alone. and she began with
MN Spanish grammar. 1IcrSpanish stu'
Nm took her into the Mexican quar-
IM, and long and earnestly she strovt
wv get a foothold in the man Garcias ho
hut without success; and the way
looked at her sometimes made her h'
\ afraid.
> l,r 1ift1a rom, she &