Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-02-14

the defenseY
Tom started. but said he did remem-
Der.
"He came from me. And he not
only assumed your guilt-as FEAR We
had all assumed it--but he wanted 10
know where you had put what you had
taken out Of the dead mans pockes.
You were only to tell him that to Sc
cure the best defense money could OBJ
tain. Instead Of telling him you threw
him out Of your cell. You were quite
right. was well served. After two
years, Erichsen. I tell you that I am
sorry-sorryw
Tom impIored him to say no more.
There was more. however, that must
be said.
Before your trial." continued Hard
ing, II was almost mad with anxiety.
Every hour l expected those letters to
be found. Daintree knew well enough
what was the matter. The letters were
in his own possession, but he obtained
my confidence, wormed it out OF me
one night, and from that hour my
soul was not my own. He began BY
dragging me to your trial.
"He told me you dragged him there!
'Tt was the other way about / am
ashamed to say II, but 1t was the other
way about. want to hang myself
when I think of that time. / remem-
Der him haunting me by saying ought
to sympathize with you because / de-
served to stand in the dock myself.
He who had done the murder for
which he saw you condemned! I feel
sure he only kept the receipt In order,
IL necessary, to use the letter that was
written Oh the other side"
mo, no." said Tom. II prefer to be-
lieve he was always thinking Of some
way of proving my innocence by
means of the receipt without incrimi-
Mating himself. 1t would have been In
keeping with his character. he had a
kind heart In many things, and wish
we were leaving him In his quiet grave
instead Of In an asylum. I cannot help
feeling grateful to him even now. He
gave me back my manhood and my lib
erty, even II 1t was he who first took
them away. Above all he gave me
back Clairep'
There was one addition to the home
ward bound party who must not be
forgotten. This was manservant,
with withered arm. who grew gray
and ultimately died in Thomas Erich
sens service. His was the second
death among those passengers Of the
Florentla whose fate concerns this
chronicle. Lady Starkie was the first
to 20. Nicholas Harding followed in
the same year as bis namesake OF all
the Russias. The next and last-it
seems but the other day-was Claire.
his daughter. loving and beloved
wife and mother whose children
miss and mourn her daily, though most
of them have children Of their own.
But a little while ago this story
might have left them still together
the bent old man with the thoughtful
eye and many wrinkles-the white
haired, sweet faced mOtherly woman.
Yet then their story had not been told.
for there Is that In 1t which Thomas
Erickson never would tell his wife. He
never told how they tried to cut his
heart out with the lash. He never
told her how nearly they succeeded.
And still, when he thinks Of that, Is he
grateful to the long dead maniac to
whom he owed so various debt.
1t is the old mans pleasure to hear
and read Of the noble colony sprung
miraculously from the cruel dust and
ashes of sixty years ago. He has new
er revisited 1t. In the old country he
has lived and be will die. Less fortu-
nate than Claire, his lot Is that harder
one Of the last to go. but bis life has
been always brave, and he neither
fears nor courts bis death.
THE END.