The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1901-04-20
oHAPTER K. tcontinued.)

l&9
CHAPTER x. (Continued)
Il have proved nothing, Beatrice,
nor have they given me my freedom"
he replied. II escaped to-day from
Jail. How, matters not. I am here,
but every moment Is fraught with
danger. Beatrice, I would have stayed
and stood my trial, secure in my inno-
cence, but that I was in the hands of
Derjurers. You know your cousins
Testimony. What chence had I in my
apnocence to stand up against it with
out proof? And how could I gain proof
shut up in a PRISONS walls? How
I pay my debt to him when my
hands were tied? So I have united
them. Beatrice, I am a free man, and
they shall eve take me back alive
Listen to me-, my dear, and don't trem-
pie no be afraid. I am not going to
leave my place untitled in the cell I
have left vacant; I am going to pro-
vide a substitute. It may be one year,
pr two, or three before I am able to do
|this:, but it shall be done. And that
substitute is Randolph Chester. AS
bitter and implacable as he has been
me, SO will I be to him; but my
weapons shall be truth-his have been
perjury and false witness. In open
combat, let Is see which will win. I
only came here, darling, to see and to
tell you this-to swear to you, If you
needed the oath, that o were not
more innocent than I; to hold you
once in my arms, to press you to my
heart, to taste nee again the sweet
ness of your lips, and then to disap-
pear, as Bertram Talbot, from the
world; but ever, like the sleuth-
hound, to follow on Randolph Ches-
ter's track, to double IN his doubling,
to ferret every purpose, every motive
Of his life, until, mesh by mesh, I have
o about him a web from which
there is no escape" +
He had spoken so holly, SO impetu-
ously, she could not have checked him
# she would; but as she realized that
he was again to leave her-that his
coming had only been to bid her once
more farewell-she chung to him with
weary desolation.
BERTHE. Bertie!" she pleaded, II, too,
distrust and fear him. Do not leave
me. dear!"
Ny SAlAAOs i la pOWSAASoos e"SS
as is my dream of winning you, I
would not tonight claim you were the
power given me; nor ever until I can
prove to the world and to you, sweet
heart, who need no proof, that L bear
the burden Of another's guilt. But.
my darling, you are protected from
him and all others. This is your home.
1t rests with o whether I hall be
admitted to its DOORS"
A bitter cry burst from her lips. Her
home! So he believed, little dreaming
that she had no home. From her he
must hear the sad story. AS it had
been told to her, unfalteringly. she re-
peated it to him.
'.Sometimes / think we wrong him,
BERTHE" she concluded. "See, dear! by
marrying me now he gains nothing. I
am penniless. The money is all his.
Why should he want to link his life
with a nameless girl? And yet, at the
sound Of his voice, I shudder-at his
touch, I instinctively recoil. His very
Beauty repulses me-. You know why l
was about to end it all when you
same-why death raj sweeter to me
In its calm chill than life spent with
aim. For my sake, when dead, ne
would have spared my mothers menu
ury. The lawyer said my death wou
make all things easy. Oh, BERTHE, II Is
not yet too late! See, half the con-
rents of the bottle still are here. Pour
them out, and let me drink them with
nour arms close-wrapped about me"
I For the first time during her story
she uplifted her eyes to his face. She
~. A---aa.a - %hn ohonoo which hAd
taken place there.
Pale before, he was now hvid, ano
his breathing was labored and painfui.
His eyes, too, wore an expression sne
had never seen there before.
AS she finished speaking. he reached
u his hand for the bottle, still stand
lng uncorked upon the table.
She thought he was about TO ooey
command, and smiled YEARLY, as
though glad to throw of life's a
BURDEN: but instead, his fingers closed
about the fragile glass until 1t q
ned within them, and its dark contents
themselves at his feet, with
mere and there q drop Of blood, where
the sharp edges. had cut into n fesn:
He seemed u~nconcious Of 1t all, ana
ntill held the broken fragments 1ast
sintil q faint cry from Beatrice arous-
.Bertie, you are hurt! The glass Is
cutting you! Let go of It"
He ,Inloosed his hold then, and shook
It from him.
with her handkerchief she wiped b
,oo away, and bound the linen about
AS she finished, he caught e
more to him in q grasp tina 1ai.-
~ hurt, while n great sob rent ms
frame.
..rhank God! thank God! I came
An time! he said. my chtld-my
little girl! Swear. to me that Wnat
ever befall, you will v again az,
xempt your life. And listen, Beatrice!
have needed nerve and courage
for my coming struggle you have
~upplied me with both. Allah gag.
this villain has told you is false, ana
toid 10 serve some purpose OF his Own.
Nv darling think Of your father. ma
honor. his rectitude. and Imagine him
aIvvays. always under the SHADOW q
M ia. Look at your mothers pic
srre. Recall that he ~yenerated per
|ma,oory Of a saint. Was ever race
more pure than hers? And think you
story had been true. your fatneE
.A4S-,s 10 ~ xo nrOvided so carefully