Middletown transcript., 1906-12-08


affairs began to look ngly. Ii
some fatuons noment ] helped
myself TO trust funds. There
WAS money coming to me, which
was tied up for the moment. and
Of course ] expected to repay the
amount / had taken. The trans
gressor always does, / suppose.
But everything went wrong with
me, and before I coR4d straighten
my accounts the shortage was
discovered. The judge gave me
FIVE years.
You poor boy you poor boy .
she said, gently
If there is aught more power
full for good Than the light of
sympathy in a woman's eyes it
has yet to be heard Of. No purist
could have called this girl bead
tiful, but she had that which is
more winning than beauty, q
brown sun-tinted MOBILE face, lit
by eyes agleam Wlh sympathy.
Her voice bad moving cadence
with al odd sparkle 10 it, sweet
note of upfift that called men to
higher living OF the many men
who had loved her there was not
one but had been better for it.
The influence could not be over.
Yestimated,
Since then it has been given
me to endure the unenduraole
OF that death in life | thank God
you can have no faintest concep-
tion. dared not think, for that
way madness lay. So / used to
lie through sleepless nights and
practice devices to Danish the
past. The day was better, for
then the fatigue of unusual labor
precluded thought. Four years
dragged away, and many times l
planned unfeasible methods of
escape. To-day my opportunity
came during a change of guards
and I broke away After they
had traced me here there seemed
but one chance-to 6nd some
woman alone and force her,
through fear, to talk with me in
the shadow and so, perhaps. i'm
pose myself on my hunters as
one of the guests. With that
intent ] crept up on you But
your generous spirit has dis
armed me.
There came to them softly on
the night air the strainsof music
The convict listened, with a trou-
bied face emotion-shot. ! used
to Ounce that waltz century ago
before | was known as Mum Der
257. he said slowly.
What are your plans if you
get away The girl asked
have a brother who is ranch
ing in Arizona /; Ed stood by me
through thick and thin; I'll tres
pass on his kindness again.
Do ]! she cried Begil life in
new land. Forget the plst; blot
it from your memory, or rather
make it an incentive to a better
and a happier future.
His lips parted in the grimmest
of smiles-one suggestive of
saraonic self-contempt.
The girls eyes grew wistfully
eager. She began to talk again,
hesitant in words, but sure Of
purpose. You look and speak as
if life were ended for you. Be
lieve me, it is not. You are
young; you are strong. There
are many years yet before you in
which TO redeem the errors of
your past. Life is never over
for the brave man. 1t takes
courage to be happy if one has a
soul above balls and dinners
But it may be achieved provided
one has faith and optimism. You
have to trust and believe. You
have to play the game out.
A sharp tread came crisply
down the walk toward them.
The girl rose to her white,
but steady-just as a blond,
broad shouldered, well built gen.
tleman came lightly up the steps.
That you, Tassie? I? he asked,
quickly; then added, in evident
relief, Glad I found you; came
to look for you because an officer
was just telling me that one of
the convicts He stopped
abruptly. In the shadows be-
hind her he saw a figure Of a
roughly dressed man, and some
thing in the girls face made him
pause. Anything wrong 2 he
cried, and again his eyes swept
over the white shadow face
among the vines, out Of every
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