Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-01

Everybody liked him; he was good to me.
oh God, 1 should have gone out of my mind
with more of it 1 didn't steal the money
no. MOI l didn't mean to steal it; the devil
put 1t into my hands. Before God. never
stole a dollar in my life. But it WASH t
that-it wasn't the mOney-it was to think
that an innocent man was to su1er-to
have his life wrecked because of my sin.
How it was coming home to Crane! Had
he not dabbled his hands in the same sin,
almost committed it?
you have never known what 1t is to suf-
fer in that way. But let me tell you all. |
must: then. perhaps. you will understand
| how I was tempted. For years l have been
ground in poverty. My mother and my sis
ter, even my brother have all looked to me.
My brother should have supported them,
but all his money went on the race course
gambling When l heard Alan Porter tell
Mortimer that your horse was sure to win,
for the first time in my life felt desire
to get money that way. But had no mon
ey to bet. That day as Invent into the
| vault / saw under a lower shelf-the devil
drew my eyes that way-a bank note.
hardly knew it was a bank note, for l saw
but a piece of paper indistinctly in the dim
light / picked it up. Oh, God. if | hadn
touched it. / looked at it. My heart jump
ed in my throat and choked me; my head
swan. In my ears were strange voices,
saying Take it. Put 1t in your pocket.
Perhaps it was because it was so large-a
thousand dollars-perhaps 1t was because
it seemed lost, out of place, 1 don't know. 1
had handled thousands and thousands be-
fore and never felt that way.
THE devil voices that were in my ears
said, This is your chance. Take 1t, borrow
it, no one will know. Bet it the horse
that will surely win and you will get many
thousands; then you replace it. and for
once in your life you will know what 1t is
to have something of your own
II tried to put il back-I couldn't. The
voices called me fool. coward. thought
of my mother my sister-what I could do
for fhepo IF had tried IN To, O
it in to Mr.. Lane and say that l had found
it. I couldn't Oh! My Cod You don't
know what it is to be tempted. You have
been successful, and don't know how mis-
| cradle weak fortune makes a man.
IT yielded. l took it! Then when its loss
was discovered and Mortimer was accused
tried to contest couldn't. l was cow
ard. a traitor, a Judas. Oh, Godr'
The overweight man threw himself face
| down on the table In front of his grim &C
| cuser. like a childs broken doll, and wept
with great sobs that shook his frame as the
| wind lasheS the waters into turmoil.
The exultation of righteous victory swept
| through Cranes soul. He might have been
| like that. He had been saved from this by
his love for good woman. He could not
despise the poor. broken creature who con-
| fessed so abjectly to his crime, because all
| but In deed he also had sinned. The deep
est cry of despair from Cass was because of
! the sin he had committed against his
| friend, against Mortimer.
| Crane waited until Cass' misery had ex-
| hausted itself a little, and when he spoke
| his voice was soft in pity
II understand. Sit in your chair there
and be man. Half an hour ago l thought
you a thief / don't now. You had your
| time of weakness. Perhaps all men have
| that. You fell by the wayside l don't
| think you'll do it again.
mo, no. no! 1 wouldn't go through the
hell I've lived in again for all the money In
] the world. And I'm SO glad that 1t is
known; feel relief
well. it is better that the truth has come
out, because everything can be put right.
l going to make you pay back the
| 81 600 to Mortimer was going to drive
you from the bank-I war going to let it
| be known that you had stolen the money,
| but now l must think. You must have an
other chance. It's dangerous thing to
/ wreck lives
MY God, 1t is. That's what haunted me
night and day. / felt as though had muir
dered a man whose hand had often been
| thought young Porter had taken it. and
| that he was shielding him. The memory of
/ the misery in Mortimer's face at being
counted a thief would have stuck to me If
1 / had lived to be hundred.
Cass had Interrupted Crane. When he
ceased again out of exhaustion Crane pro-
| ceeded: '"rhe money must he paid back to
i Mortimer"
! "rll save and work my fingers off till I do
| it."
you can't Those dependent upon you
would starve. I'll attend to that little mat
4 ter myself
| "And you will let me go without"
| mo, you can't CO."