Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1902-01-03
Tie Trouble on the Tore Ito.
BY FRANCIS LYNDH.
BY FRANCIS LYNDH.
Copyrights 1875. by rranci. Lynd..,

| took this as a beginning of a
confidence, and made it easy for her
by pretending not to understand.
sit is because ] am here that Mr..
Setter is made to suffer-" she ex-
planned "He was on good terms
with the company until-until---"
Spare yourself, Miss Winnie;
know what you would say. But you
are quite mistaken. The quarrel be-
tween Setter and the man who shall
be nameless between us does not
hinge upon your presence here"
Sh looked troubled. May ask you
to tell me what it does hinge upon?"
j hardly knew how to answer her.
1t would be shameful to tell her
what was apparent to everyone else
in the settlement; that Mans open
liaison with the engineer, grown
more fragrant since my Intellectual
attempt to break it off, Macpherson
told me. was at the bottom Of Sell
ter's feud with Wykamp. And yet it
ton.
Haven't you SEEM" / asked.
Jacob Setter is plain man, and not
over-scrupulous, as we all know. But
he is q father"
Her eyes went wide in deeper
trouble and the shock of it filled
them with quick tears.
Il have been very blind" she said.
at must be prevented. I will go to
Nan and tell her what she ought to
know"
Pardon me; you must do nothing
OF the kind. She would not believe
you, and-she knows already"
There was bewilderment in her
faltered rejoinder.
IL don't understand. How can
she know? Surely, he could not be
base enough TOTO boast
cut in swiftly. "You very well
know he is base enough for any
thing. He gave her his own version
long time ago, and knowing that
he had done SO, I gave her the facts.
1t was blunder on my part, Miss
Winnie; well-meant, but blunder,
nevertheless. She did not believe me;
and when she was finally convinced,
she used the information against
you?"
Against me? How could she do
that?'
1t was not altogether the weak
ness of illness that set the perspira-
ton thick on my forehead.
May ] speak as freely as your
brother might, Winifred?"
81 have given you the right" she
said and her voice was low and tear
shaken.
"Then let me tell you what you
haven't suspected. You have cine be-
tween Nancy Setter and the man
whom she really loves. 1t was to him
that she went with the miserable
story of what an unjust world calls
your shame"
1t crushed her as feared it would.
For long time she sat with her face
hidden in her hands, and her sobs
We're so many dagger-thrusts for me.
When She lifted her eyes to mine
there was the light of new pur-
pose in them.
Il must go away from here-at
once" she said. 81 should have gone
at first. l would have gone, if l had
not been afraid"
81 know. But you may trust An
gus. And it is for him that l must
| plead, Winifred. He knows the worst,
now, and since he loves you the ver-
dict of an uncharitable world is
nothing to him. Won't you give him
leave to speak to you, Winifred?"
She started back with little cry
of anguish.
You speak of shame, and it is you
| who tempt mel" she said, in sor-
| rowful reprcach. THAT would be
shame, indeed-shame and sin. You
say you know the facts. Are you
quite sure you know all of them?"
Let me tell you what l know, and
you shall say if it be the truth. Two
years ago the nameless one had a
business engagement which domi-
| ciled him in a village in New Hamp-
shire. While there he met a young
girl, an orphan, whose father had
left her a modest competence. /
| know not if it were for the sake of
the money that he wooed and won
her, and was willing to dare the con-
| sequences of crime punishable by
| law. But the thing was done, and
the crime was scarcely committed
| before another woman came with a
child in her arms to claim him as
| her lawful husband. He fled, like the
| coward that he was, and the young
girls people connived at his escape
| to bury the shame of it. And since,
| the girl-wife who was no wife has
paid the penalty of sin that was
not hers. That is what + learned
through friend of mine in Massa-
chusetts who has known the man
and the evil heart. of him from his
youth up. Was my informant cor
rect, Winifred?" :.
She had heard me through with
out flinching, and her eyes met mine
steadily.
Not entirely correct" she said,
with hardness in her voice which
| had never heard before. "Bitter as
it would be, | could almost wish he
were Wooed and won, you said,
but that is hardly fair toto, the
young woman There were constrain-
ing circumstances; her guardian was
| overwhelmingly urgent, it seemed
| to her at the time
"Why should he have beenpn