Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-04-30


there a match was struck and showed
one of them lit the c~ountenance of a
man who had brushed her sleeve as he
entered. 1t was Hallelujah Jones.
"Wait, wait!' he cried. II have evil
dence to give!' He pointed excitedly
toward Harry. This man is not what
you think He is not
The judges gavel thumped upon the
wood. How dare you" he vociferated.
'break in upon the deliberations of this
court? | fine you $40 for contempt"
Fielder had leaped to his feet. What
could this mar know? He took a
bill from his pocket and clapped it
down on the clerks desk.
81 beg to purge him of contempt" he
said. land call him as a Witness"
Hallelujah, Jones snatched the Bible
from the clerks hands and kissed it
Knowledge was burning his tongue
The jury were leaning forward in their
seats.
"Have you eve seen the prisoner be
fore?" asked Fielder.
Eyes"
"WhenT"
when he was a minister of the Cos
pei"
Fielder stared. The judge frowned
The jury looked at one another. and o
laugh ran round the hushed room
The Eaerriment kindled the evangel-
lists dissempered passion. Sudden an
ger famed in him. He leaned forward
and shook IDS hand vehemeptly at the
table wner Harry sat his face as col.
orless as the flower he wore.
"That mans name" he biazed. "is
not Hugh Stires. 1t is a cloak he has
chosen to cover his shame. He is the
Rev. Henry Sanderson of Aniston."
Harry's pulses had leaped with ex.
element when the street preachers
first exclamation startled the court
room; now they were beating as though
they burst. Through the stir
about him he heard the crisp voice of
the district attorney:
Il ask your honor's permission before
this extraordinary witness is examined
further he said caustically. ito read
an item printed here which has a bear
ing upon the testimony" He held In
his hand a newspaper which earlier In
the afternoon, with cynical disregard
of Felder's tactics, he had been CASUAL
ly perusing.
"Read it. sir"
Holding the newspnper-cu h -cardSk.
the lawyer read in an even voice. pref
acing his reading with the Journals
name Inc date:
This city. which was aroused In the
night by the burning of st. James chapel.
will be greatly shocked to learn that its
rector. the Rev. Henry Sanderson. who
has been for some months on a prolonged
vacation, was in the building at the time
and now lies at the city hospital, suffer
ing from injuries from which it is ru-
mored there is grave doubt OF his re-
covery.
In the litter hat rippled the court
room Harry felt his heart bound and
swell. Under the succinct statement
he clearly discerned the fact. He saw
the pitfall into which Hugh had fallen
the trap into which he himself had
sent him on that fatal errand with the
ruby ring on his finger. Grave doubt
of his recovery" A surge of relief
swept over him to his finger tips. He
would be free to &c back-to be him
self again, to be Jessica's-if Hugh
died. The reading voice drummed in
his ears:
The facts nave not as yet been ascer-
tanned, but 1t seems clear that the popu-
lar young minister returned to town I'M
expectedly last night and was asleep in
his study when the fire started. His
presence in the building was unguessed
until too late, and it was by little short
of a miracle that he was brought out
alive.
AS we go to press we learn that Mr..
Sanderson's condition IL much more hope
full than was at first reported
Harry's heart contracted as If "a
giant hand had clutched it. His Ella
ton fell like a rotten tree girdled at
the roots. If Hugh did not die! He
chilled as though in a spray of liquid
air. Hugh's escape-the chance his
conscience had given him-was cut of.
The judge reached for the newspaper
the lawyer held, ran his eye over it
and brought his gavel down with an
angry snort.
take him away" he said. His ties
timony is ordered stricken from the
records. The fine is RENTED. Mr.
Fielder. We can't make you %responsi
BILE for lunatics. The court stands ad-
journed."
Fielder had been among the last to
leave the courtroom. He was dis
comfited and angry. At the door of
the courthouse DR.. Brent slipped an
arm through his.
TOO bad. Tom." he said sympathiz-
ingly. Il don't think you quite de-
served it."
Fielder paced a moment without
speaking. Il need evidence" he said
then; anything that may help. |
made a mistake. You heard all the
testimonyT'