The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-09-20

| the drunkard. Men had killed them
selves ere now in such excuses. a
| dreary and degraded end that made
John shudder. What if Alan were dead.
There would be Christmas day!
BY this, John had his hand upon the
| shutters, and flinging them back, be-
held once again the blessed face OF the
day. Even by that light the room had
discomfortable air The chairs were
scattered, and one had been over
thrown; the table-cloth, laid as If for
dinner, was twitched upon one side,
and some of the dishes had fallen to
the floor. Behind the table lay the
drunkard, still unaroused, only one foot
visible to John.
But now that light was in the room,
the worst seemed over; 1t was dis
gushing business, but not more than
disgusting, and it was wi h no eat ap-
prehension that John proceeded to
make the circuit of the table; his last
comparatively tranquil moment OF that
day. No sooner had he turned the cor
ner, no sooner had his eyes alighted
on the body, than he gave smothered,
breathless cry, and fed out of the room
and out OF the house.
1t was not Alan who lay there, but
man well up in years, of stern counte-
nance and iron-gray locks, and it was
no drunkard, for the body lay in a
black pool CT blood, and the open eyes
stared upon the ceiling.
To and fro walked John before the
door. The extreme sharpness OF the
air acted on his nerves like an astrin-
gent, and braced them swiftly. Pres
emily, he not relaxing In his disordered
walk, the images began to come clearer
end stay longer In his fancy; and next
the power of thought came back to him,
and the horror and danger of his situa-
ton rooted him to the ground.
He grasped his forehead, and staring
on one spot of gravel, pieced together
what he knew and what he suspected.
Alan had murdered some one; possibly
that man" against whom the butler
chained the door in Regents Terrace;
possibly another; some one at least;
human soul, whom 1t was death to slay
and whose blood lay spilled upon the
floor. This was the reason Of the whis-
ky drinking in the passage, of his un-
willingness to welcome John, of his
strange behavior and bewildered words;
this was why he had started at and
harped upon the name Of murder; this
was why he had stood and hearkened
or sat and covered his eyes In the black
night. And now he was gone, now he
had baseIy fed; and to all his perplexi-
ties and dangers John stood heir.
LET me think-let me think" he
said, aloud, impatiently, even pleading
ly, as X to some merciless interrupter.
In the turmoil Of his wits, a thousand
hints and hopes and threats and ter
rors DINING continuously In his ears,
he was like one plunged in the hubbub
OF crowd. How was he to remember
he who had not thought to spare
that he was himself the author, as well
as the theater, of so much confusion?
But In hours of trial the junto of mans
nature Ia dissolved, and anarchy sue
ceeds.
1t was plain he must stay no longer
where he was, for here was new Ju-
dicial Error In the very making. It was
not so plain where he must go, for the
old Judicial Errcr, vague a cloud, ap-
peared to fill the habitable world; what
ever ii might be, 1t watched for him,
full-grown, in Edinburgh; it must have
had it's birth in San Francisco. it stood
guard, no doubt, like a dragon, at the
bank where he should cash his credit;
and though there were doubtless many
other places, who should say in which
of them 1t was not ambushed? No, he
could not tell where he was to go; he
must not lose time on these insolubili-
ties. Let him go back to the begin
ming. 1t was plain he must stay no
longer where he YVES. 1t was plain, too,
that he must not flee as he was, for he
could not carry his portmanteau, AID
to flee and leave 1t, was to plunge deep
er in the mire. He must go, leave, the
house unguarded, find cab. and re-
turn-return after an absence? Had
he courage for that?
And just then he spied stain about
a hands breadth on his trouser-leg,
and reached his finger down to touch
1t. The finger was stained red; 1t vas
blood; ne stared upon 1t with disgust,
and awe, and terror, and in the sharp
ness OF the new sensation fell ipata ant