The herald., 1897-10-03


myself to be the culprit? If she be-
lieved had entirely forgotten what I
had done, then it would almost be as
bad as if she did not believe. A law
yer whose business it is to discover
eliminating facts, but whose judgment
and memory are so frail as to make
him overlook the all-important facts in
such a case, must be almost as despic-
able as a man who commits q crime
and lies about it!
became indignant at fate. Why
should lose everything worth having
in this world? Why should give upmy
love, my prospects, my life, because
I had committed careless fault? Why
should suffer the terrible punishment
which might follow the avowal Of my
part in this tragedy, Of which tragedy,
at the time it was committed, I was
absolutely ignorant?
In the town Of Camborough, in fact
in the whole world, there was no one
who could help me answer these ques-
tions. If told my secret to anyone, I
would have no right to ask him to
keep it a secret. and he would have no
right to do so. How I cursed myself
for the egregious vanity which had
urged me to push myself into this af-
fair! OF course it was a good motive
which prompted me to give all possi-
BILE assistance in the search for a GRIM
inai and to clear a good man from sus-
picioH, but that had not been all my
motive. I had wanted to show Cam
borough what could do by myself.
had wanted to produce the criminal,
and now that had found him, was
afraid to produce him. If had kept
in my proper place, no one would have
ever known that I had done the deed,
for I should not have suspected it my
self. It was as If a native Australian
had proudly hurled boomerang at an
enemy and the murderous missile had
returned, striking him fair in the fore
head!
had reached the point, now, when I
considered only myself. The thought
that my avowal would relieve Mr.. Kef-
ford of suspicion grew Of less and less
Importance. I said to myself that
there was really nothing to positively
connect him with the crime. He might
suffer but not as I should suffer.
could not make up my mind to shatter
my life.
I rose in the morning without having
decided whether I would continue to
live among the citizens Of Camborough
as free and respectable man, or
whether I should deliver myself into
the hands of the law, for crime of
which knew was not truly guilty.
was sitting in my Office that morning
about nine o'clock when my friend,
Craig Wilson. came in. He was
young lawyer about my age, but he
had been longer in the profession, and
had had some experience. Wilson had
scarcely seated himself when he ex-
claimed:
"Old boy, you are not looking we'll!
Have you been reading all night, study
ing up wills and assassinations? I
think you are putting too much of your
nerve-power into this business. Ev-
erybody knows you are interested, and
that is all right, but there is such a
thing as going too far, even in good
cause. You want a rest. What do you
say to going out fishing this after
noon?"
"Fishing!" exclaimed.
Eyes," said Wilson. II had an idea
you were going into that line again.
know you used to be great fisherman,
and Billy Saunders, the son of our
gardener, told me that yesterday you
bought fishing line of him and paid
him some fabulous price-a dollar or
two, think he said-for one of his old
lines. That looked to me like bad
attack of fishing fever, and my opinion
is that it is the sort of disease that
would do you good. Shall we start out
after luncheon?
mo-" said I, II cannot possibly do
it; it will be utterly out of the ques-
tion.'
I think I said something about an
engagement, but I do not remember.
My mind was entirely occupied with a
new fear,--a fear that this crime
might be fixed upon me without my
confessing it. The boy would be wit
ness to prove an extraordinary desire
on my part to possess myself of the
missile with which Farris had been
struck. I did not want to talk, but l
must say something.
us there any news" said I, about
the man in the hospital?"
| mo good news" replied Wilson. I'm
| fact there doesn't seem to be anything
good about this unfortunate affair,
and 1 must admit it has an effect on
me as we'll as on yourself, although
YOU have much more reason to take it
roughly than have. I stopped at the