The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-01-25
Jhe JtapIeton Story !.

Hes asleep, curse MIN. Wen, ne
can't sleep those welts off his back,
sncered one
He's got the devirs own pluck. Not
whimper out OF him.. said the other
admiringly.
He'll want IL. I'm going to break his
spirit II have 10 cut his heart out with
the LASH
why are you 30 down on him Des-
pard? He's had enough
" Not he, curse him. He's a gentle
man. he is The fellow touched his
swollen nose and blackened eyes Isn't
this enough? But II isn't all. nor the
worst. ! tell you he despises me- When
| had finished with him am hour ago he
looked at me as II ! might be the dirt
beneath his feet Another man would
have been ready 10 lick the dust off my
boots. But I'll show my gentleman he
can't put on airs with Pierre Despard.
I'm break his pride or I'll break his heart.
IN Kill him, or IN make him cringe
The fellow clinched IL with fearful oath
and left the place.
"'Then you'll kill him, said the other
man as he followed. Il know his kind.
They can't be broken
But the convict was not asleep. His
defiant eyes grew harder and his finger
nails sunk into the palms OF his hands.
lie gnashed his teeth and writhed In a
sullen passion OF rage and scorn at him
self and fate. lie would show that coward
Despard that he could not tame him, not
II they Killed him With his last breath
he would hurl defiance in his teeth. Cut
his heart out with their brutality? Yes,
they might do that. and little he would
care If only they would kill him quite.
lie got TO his feet. pacing the narrow cell
like a wounded tiger. scornfully regard
less of his lacerated back
Life and death? What were they TO
him who had undergone the shame and
agony of hell? He would endure no
longer. lie might kill a keeper Despard
if IL might be- and they would hang him
for IL and end the agony. Why, he
thought, do men endure day after day
and year after year the uncomfortable? lie
was a proud man. but that day hum
dred eyes. curious sneering, triumphant
or pitiful. had seen the GROWING degrade
ton OF his life. He set his teeth and
vowed bitterly that there should be no
more such scenes. He told himself that
the end was at hand. Life was a thing
to be hated, and he longed to be rid of
It,
Through the barred window space the
shifting light OF the moon fell on lit
tie book at the foot Of his bunk. lie
stopped in surprise, wondering how II
came tntTes lie was sure AZ ndu iipN
been there I'm the morning. Picking IL
up, he saw IL was little testament,
well worn and with many marked pas
sages fnstnctvely he knew that the
girl he had saved that day had sent II
through one of the guards.
"His mood changed. Convict az he was
a disgraced and desperate aed beaten
man, he had yet been able TO do
something for her. the representative
OF the type of woman he had once known
so well Again he saw her bind his fore
head and look down at him with anxious
plying eyes-at him, the convict Merely
To think of IL brought back the longing
for life and made man of him once
more. He regretted nothing, save the
folly which had driven him from such
women for evermore. Reverently he
opened the testament. II fell at the elev-
enth chapter OF ST. Matthew. The words
which caught his eye were heavily UNDER
scored He read them over and over
again with heaving breast and dimming
eyes:
4" Come unto me. all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and 1 will give you
rest.
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