Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-12-23
efore. really to satisfy her hunger fol

before. really to satisfy her hunger fof
news
As II happened Mrs. Halloran's first
greeting set her anxiety at rest. Prem
'lergast had bought some tobacco Mt
the general store an hour before while
she had been making her daily order,
and the storekceper had questioned
him. To an interested audience he
had told OF the finding Of Hugh on
the mountain road In n sort of crazy
fever and enlarged upon the part the
girl on horseback had played. Hugh
was all right now, he said. except that
ne didn't remember him or the cabin
or Smoky Mountain.
What Prendergnst had said Mrs.
HallOran told Jessica in a breath. Be-
fore she finished she found that Jes-
sica had not heard Of the incident in
the saloon which had precipitated the
fight with Devlln. and with sympa-
,hctic rhetoric Mrs. Halloran told this
too.
"Why does Smoky Mountain hate
him SO? What has he done?" asked
Jcssica.
Mrs. Halloran shook her head. ~
never knew anything myself" she
said judici ously. IL reckon the town
allus counted him just general low
down. The rest is only suspicion an
give the dog a bad name"
There had been comfort for Jsssica
In this interview. Mrs. Halloran's
story had materially increased the
poignant force of her pity. What had
seemed to her vulgar brawl had
been In reality a courageous and un-
selfish championship Of defenseless
outcast Thinking Of this. the self
blame and eontrltion which she had
felt when she listened to the violin
assaied her anew. till she seemed a
very part OF the guilt, an equal sinner
by omission.
Yet she rode homeward that day
with almost light heart.
AS Harry stood in the cabin door
way looking after Prendergast toward
the town. gistening far below In the
morning sunlight. he thought bitterly
OF his reception there.
'They all knew me-" he thought
Every one knew NEON the street. In
the hotel. They know me for what
have been to them. Yet to me 1t Is all
n blank. What shameful deeds have
DONE" lie shrank from memory now
What was doing go far away. where
was going. on the night when ! was
picked up beside the railroad track?
may he q drunkard." he said to him
self mo. in the past month l have
drunk hard. but not for the taste Of the
liquor. may be a gambler. may be
cheat, thief. Yet how Is 1t possible
for bad deeds to be blotted out and
leave no trace? Actions breed habit II
they do not spring from It. and habit
automatically repeated becomes char
acter. feel no Inherent propensity tc
. rob or defraud. Shall l? Will these
: things come back to me II my memory
does"
In the battle that he fought now he
turned. even in his weakness. to man
ual labor. striving to dull his though
with mechanical movement. He clean
ed and put to rights both rooms and
sorted their litter Of odds and ends
But at times the inclination to escape
became we'll nigh insupportable. When
the conflict was fercest, he would
think OF girls face once seen, anC
, the thought would restrain him. Who
3 was she? Why had her look pierced
r through him? In that hateful career
| that seemed so curiously alien could
= she have had part?
t He did not know that she Of whom
he wondered in the bitterest Of those
4 hours had been very near him; that or
e her way up the mountain she hat
stolen down to the Knob to loot
y through the parted bushes to the cabiI
!. with the blue spiral rising from 1T
- chimney.
r Though the homely task to which HI
}. turned failed to allay his struggle b,