The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1903-10-21
TsAnAASADNEHTG1RsS
-[eOE>-
5a0AM HDGloh SOM
x ELT 81 RsBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. 4 II
INTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION.

drunkard. still unaroused. only one foot
visible to John.
But now that light was in the room,
the worst seemed over: 1t was dis
gushing business. but not more than
and IL was wi h no great ap-
prehension that John proceeded to
make the circuit Of the table; his last
comparatively tranquil moment of that
day. No sooner had he turned the cor
ner, no sooner had his eyes alighted
on the body, than he gave a smothered,
breathless cry, and fed out Of the room
and out Of the house.
1t was not Alan who lay there, but
man well up in years, Of stern counte-
nance and iron-gray locks. and 1t was
no drunkard, for the body lay in
black pool of blood, and the open eyes
stared upon the ceiling.
To and fro walked John before the
door. The extreme sharpness OF the
air acted on his nerves like an astrin-
gent, and braced them swiftly. Pres
emily, he not relaxing in his disordered
walk, the images began to come clearer
and stay longer in his fancy; and next
the power Of thought came back to him,
and the horror and danger Of his situa-
ton rooted him to the ground.
He grasped his forehead, and staring
on one spot Of gravel. pieced together
what he knew and what he suspected.
Alan had murdered some one; possibly
that man" against whom the butler
chained the door in Regents Terrace;
human soul, whom 1t was death to slay
and whose blood lay spilled upon the
floor. This was the reason Of the whis-
ky drinking in the passage. Of his un-
willingness to welcome John, of his
strange behavior and bewildered words;
this was why he had started at and
harped upon the name OF murder; this
was why he had stood and hearkened.
or sat and covered his eyes in the black
night. And now he was gone, now he
had basely fed; and to all his perplexi-
ties and dangers John stood heir.
Let me think-let me think" he
said, aloud, impatiently, even pleading
ly, as II to some merciless interrupter
In the turmoil of his wits, a thousand
hints and hopes and threats and ter
rors DINING continuously in his ears,
he was like one plunged in the hubbub
Of crowd. How was he to remember
he who had not thought to spare
that he was himself the author, as well
as the theater, Of so much confusion?
But In hours Of trial the junto of mans
nature Ia dissolved, and anarchy sue
ceeds.
It was plain he must stay no longer
where he was, for here was a new Ju-
dicial Error in the very making. It was
not SO plain where he must go, for the
old Judicial Error, vague as cloud, ap-
peared to fill the habitable world; what
ever 1t might be, It watched for him,
full-grown, in Edinburgh; 1t must have
had it's birth in San Francisco; 1t stood
guard. no doubt. like a dragon, at the
bank where he should cash his credit
and though there were doubtless many
other places, who should say in which
OF them 1t was not ambushed? No, he
could not tell where he was to 60; he
must not lose time on these insolubili-
ties. Let him go back to the begin
ming. 1t was plain he must stay no
longer where he was. 1t was plain, too
that he must not fee as he was, for he
could not carry his portmanteau, and
to flee and leave 1t, was to plunge S.ep-
er In the mire. He must go, leave the
house unguarded. find cab, and re-
turn-return after an absence? Had
he courage for that?
And just then he spied a stain about
hands breadth on his trouser-leg
and reached his finger down to touch
it. The finger was stained red: It vas
blood; he stared upon 1t with disgust
and awe, and terror, and in the sharp.
ness Of the new sensation, fell instant.
| ly to act.
He cleansed his finger in the snow
returned into the house, drew neal
with hushed footsteps to the dining
room door. and shut and locked it
Then he breathed little freer for here
at least was an oaken barrier between
himself and what he feared. Next, h,
FASTENED to his room. tore off tn,
! spotted trousers which seemed In hi
eye a link to bind him to the gallows
flung them in corner, donned another
pair, breathlessly crammed his nigh
things into his portmanteau, locked II
swung 1t with an effort from tn,
ground, and with a rush of relief. cam,
forth again under the open heavens.
The portmanteau, being Of occidental
build, was no feather-weight; 1t hat
distressed the powerful Alan; and Al
for John, he was crushed under 1t
bulk, and the sweat broke upon hin
thickly. Twice he must set 1t dow
to rest before he reached the gate; an;
when he had come SO far, he must d,
as Alan did, and take his sea. upol
one corner. Here, then, he sat awhil
and painted; but now his thoughts wer
sensibly lightened; now. with tn
trunk standing just inside tho door
some part OF his dissertation from tn
| housA Of crima had hppn effected an,