The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-12
y ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
(MRs CHARLES RoHLPs)

COOL one. lie would never nave written
for my eyes those four words-'one Of
my sons'-unless some new fact had added
certainty to his former conviction. The
drug was in the wine handed him by
Leighton; we must accept that fact what
ever 1t may cost u.s.
Her calmness amazed me. For the last
few minutes she seemed upborne by some
secret thought could neither fathom nor
understand.
But suddenly her old horror returned
with the recurrence of some old memory.
Then it was his hand that stole towards
my uncle's glass In the dark" she cried;
that murderous, creeping hand, the WIS.,
ion of which has haunted me night and
day since i heard of it. Oh, horrible,
horrible! What curse to fall upon a
man! 1t is the work of the arch f1end.
Poor Leighton; poor Leightonl" she cried
in her agony ~ n IA
Bowling her head. she sobbed bitterly.
whileI surveyed her in amazement. T.
did not understand her. i:Sheaseemed ITO
be weeping for Leighton not for herself;
at all events she did not show the. repul-
sion I expected from her in face of such
! monstrous depravity. Was the fascination
he exerted over her so great that she
could not weigh at their proper value
characteristics SO entirely evil? It did
not seem possible. Yet there she sat
! the very thought Of him out of her heart.
81 think comprehend 1t all now" she
! finally whispered, half to herself and half
| to me. II have had the thought before;
| 1t has come when that bewildering look
Of mad uneasiness has crossed his face
and he has left us to be gone days, some
times weeks, without notice or explana-
| tion. It Is a strange idea, a secret, almost
| an uncanny. one: but 1t is the only
one that can explain crime for which
| one and all Of my cousins seem to lack
| the inherent baseness. Dare breathe 1t
| to you? 1t may be the saving of Leigh
| ton, II true; God knows it is my only ex-
| cuse for clinging to him still"
"And you do cling to him still?"
| asked, knowing what her answer would
be, but hoping against hope.
! The look she gave recalled all her old
beauty. Would that / might have been
| the cause Of 1t! or that a woman would
love where she was loved and not where
| her heart must encounter disgrace and
bitter suffering.
| .I cannot help doing So" she muir
INJURED. HE will soon need my aid, If
not my comfort; for I know what these
| horrible contradictions mean. l under
! stand them, understand him, and even the
! revolving crime Of which he may have
been guilty. Hypocrisy does not explain
| It; depravity does not explain it; his good
acts are too real, the nobility OF his
| nature too unmistakable. Disease alone
| can account for it. He is the victim Of
| double consciousness, and he leads two
! lives-your own expression-because the
| two hemispheres of his brain do not act
| in unison Wickedness is not his normal
condition. His normal condition Is a
noble one. BY nature he is a God-fearing
| man, devoted to good works and high
thoughts. When he goes astray it is be-
cause the balance Of his faculties has
been disturbed. This is no new thing to
| the psychologist. You yourself have
! heard Of men so afflicted. Leighton Gill
| lespie is one.'
| Was her own brain turned by her terror,
anxiety, and wonder? Surely she was
! either mad or playing with my common
sense. But the calm dignity of her man
: ner proved that she had advanced this
astonishing, this fantastic explanation of
Leighton Gillespie's contradictory actions
In good faith. Despair seized me at this
proof Of his tenacious hold upon her, and
/ could not quite restrain a touch Of
| irony. III.
You would make him out sort Of
Jekyll and HYDE I ventured ''Alas!
rear the courts do not take into &C
count the theories Of the romancer in
their Judgment of criminals"
The sarcasm passed UNDECIDED Crow
! Au6 uAoAO dAu uOIc DSdutllu1 as Q0T
earnestness increased, she said with
simple confidence:
| Ialk to DR.. Bennett; he has known
my cousin almost from his birth. Ask
what these sudden changes mean in a
man whose primal instincts have always
been good. Ask why this devoted father,
this kind son, suddenly loses himself, it
may be at table, 1t may be while sitting
with his own child by the fire, and, deaf
nd fn o1cf
I touching appeals of those about him, goes
suddenly out and does not come back till
he can be himself again in the presence
OF his family and under the eye of his
friends. Previous to that awful morning
when my uncle unsealed to my eyes the
horrible secret that rested like cloud
over the household, I used to give an
and see in them a promise Of more per-
sonal hopes and an augury of my own
future happiness; so easy is it for a wom-
an to deceive herself when she
worships man without fully COM
pretending him. thought" Here
her calm candor grew almost
heroic in the effort she made to impress
me with the reasons she cherished for her
belief. II thought he was jealous OF
George or angry with Alfred, and was
driven away by his fears of self betrayal
. or his dread of being led into making un-
| worthy reprisals. But now see that 1t
was his abnormal nature which had come
into play, a nature of which he may be
ignorant when in full health, and fol-
the manifestations of which he may be
no more responsible than we are for the
vagaries we commit in Dreams
You have not read the last discoveries
I In hypnotism," I rejoinedl ga man car
be driven into no act for which he lacks
, the natural instinct. But I do not want
to be cruel Miss Meredith I am toe
, sincere in my desire to save you I'M
I necessary pain and heartache Since 20,
wish it, I will see DR.. Bennett, but
My smile seemed to unnerve her
But you do not think he will agree
/ with me In my Interpretation of thi!
crime and Leightons connection with it p
/ II do not, Miss Meredith"
, Then" she cried, with high look ant
a CLEAN Of quiet resolve that made M
r realize how small was my influence IL
, face OF her overpowering love for thi
l man. Goods will be done! I shall be-
t lieve in what I have said till he whom
r have trusted is proved the heinous male
l factor you consider him. When that hou
l comes, I perish, killed by the creates
' shame that can overwhelm woman. II
t love one who has never sought your affec
3 ton may cause the cheek to burn and tn
d heart to recoil upon ITSELF but. to hav
given all ones youth and the most cher
: ished impulses of the heart to a mai
who Is no more than whited sepulchr
of deceit and revolving crime-that :woul,
be to sap life at It's spring and tear Vi
Y the heart by its roots. Oh, Mr. Outh
9 waite, forgetting all womanly delicacy
q forgetting everything but your forbear
9 ance and the confidence with which yo
: inspire me, I have poured out my soul be
r fore you. Prove to me that this ma
fc IN, Il l..