The suburban citizen., 1900-06-30

self, was yet able to play upon the
heart strings Of those about him.
But to resume our story. The out
come Of the talk recorded above was
that McClure's farm was legally trans
ferred to Blair. Mcclure at once
moved his wife and two babies to
Ailsbury; took possession Of a small
cottage and found work in bric.s-
yard. He was a good worker.
The farm was rented and three
years passed without incident. But
the souls of the McClures were wrung
with anguish when they beheld the
havoc wrought by careless renters on
their little farm. The young orchard,
their special pride, was trampled to
death by horses and CATTLE; the lawn
in front of the house was turned into
a nursery for pigs and geese, and
cOcKle-burs were fast taking the place
Of all other crops in the field. Still,
the real owners of The land must suf'
fer in silence; they had no right to
protest.
During all this time Mr.. Blair was
very busy and the McClures could not
complain if they saw but little of
him. His success as a preacher was
marked; his church was crowded at
every service; lecture committees
were most urgent in their demands
upon him, and, as a fitting crown tc
all this, he had just accepted call
to a leading pulpit in the metropolis
The Mcclure family was as poor
at the end of the three years as at the
beginning, but they had saved enough
money to pay all back interest on the
mortgage They could get time on
the mortgage now because Of i'm
proved business conditions; good
health had come again, and, above all,
they desired to put a stop to the ruin
on the farm.
With this in mind, Philip called one
morning upon Mr.. Blair in his study.
The minister listened to all his Wis
itor had to say, nervously marking
with a pencil the while on the tablet
on his desk. When the story was I'm
ished he said without looking up:
81 see no necessity for opening up
that subject at this late day, Mac"
"But Ralston," reasoned Mcclure,
81 feel able to run the farm nicely
now, and l thought that as you were
going away soon, you'd not want to
bother with it any longer, anyhow,
Besides, you know / was to have 1t
back whenever l thought best"
"No, sir" said Blair in great irrita'
ton, 81 don't know anything of the
kind. The deal between me and you
was we'll understood. 1 was to hold
your place or not, as l saw fit. l took
it off your hands in good faith, to re-
lieve you of a burden you were unable
to oear. So considering, l sold the
farm to Peddicord last week"
Then a fearful thing occurred. Let
those who have probed deep into the
human soul and laid bare its lnnel
workings tell whether Philip Nc
Clure's action was prompted by the
blind passion of the moment, by the
thought of his loss, or by the shocl
caused by the sudden revelation Of
Blair's true character, or by all OF
these combined What he did was t.
spring to his feet and with one mur
derous blow with a chair strike thu
minister to the floor and then run Ou
! into the street
Before he had gone many steps the
! horror Of what he had done rushed
upon him, and he hurried back il
breathless haste to undo as far as pos
sible the evil Of his insane act. HI
found Blair lying just as he had fallen
He was dead. The corner of the chair
had struck him on the temple and
crushed the skull.