The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1909-08-20
3DDDDD DDDDDDa
Through a Wolrlan's
Heart.
CHAPTER xxx,v-con.inued.
By Sidney Warwick.

SSSSS6
CHAPTER xxxlv-continued.
sAt least you wrong me there"
cried the rector, in . low voice. i
should have broken silence then; God
knows what suffering 1t has cost me
to keep silent as l did. only" His
voice suddenly rose: Il don't try to
Justify my silence: only there are
things . man cannot do! Try to put
yourself in my place-for three weeks
I had guarded this secret before you
we're arrested: had planned to save
her, I believed had saved her-and
then your arrest brought down the
house of cards. My duty was clear.
no doubt; but to reveal what ! knew
was to strike at her. the woman
loved! And / felt that there was no
case against you-could be no case
that the magistrates would dismiss the
charge. So did not speak. You say
the law would not have punished her.
but there was something l was even
more afraid Of for her."
He paused-no one spoke; Hilda's
eyes as they rested on him were still
passionately alight and unrelenting.
but the hard, stern lines about La
.hom's mouth had suddenly softened.
as though in spite Of himself the APP
pealing cry had touched his pity.
Something else: before any sus-
picion fastened on you." the low voice
went on, ''this woman was slowly md
Ing her way back from her delirium
to life and reason. and with returning
consciousness she asked for me. La
Thorn, learnt almost from her nrst
words then that she had forgotten
forgotten that night as though 1t had
never been-forgotten anger and hat.
red against the man who had wronged
her-that she still loved the man who
had stolen her from me, never dream.
ing that he was dead"
For a moment Stephen Ruthen
paused; then he cried, almost passion.
ately:
WAS l to tell her then what / sus-
pected-wrongly suspected. as ! am
sure now-that the man she spoke OF
SO wistfully lay under his shroud OF
snow, dead by her act? Gould any
man with a grain of pity have told
her? Think what the shock must have
meant for her. weak and i'll as she
was; it might have killed her OF
wrecked her reason; at the least the
horror of 1t must have blighted all
her future.
Then the final blow of your arrest
fell. 7 couldn't speak; / was caught
between two terrible alternatives
but l felt there was no real case
against you: and to speak would be
to doom the woman loved. No doubt
the law would not have exacted hel
life. but almost assuredly 1t would
have exacted her liberty, since the
purpose that had seemingly impellet
her to steal out as she did might ar
que by its very accomplishment thai
| she was sane then. And ! did MOI
know at that time what know now.
A puzzled look had crept into La
| thom's face. He broke in suddenly.
But why did you say-and you hat
limited before-that you had changed
your opinion about this woman.
guilt?"
| Lathom's voice had lost its hare
ring: the poignancy of the feeling,
suddenly stripped naked to him hat
not been without their strong appea
to his pity.
81 didn't know then that l had beef
fighting shadows. after all. Lathom.
had resolved at last to break silence
the burden Of my secret had grown
too intolerable. and had resolved I,
speak. On that day ! learnt that Il
all probability Olive Vanstoue was a
guiltless as myself Of Philip Hume'
death"
what do you mean?" cried Lathom
1.-THE revolver l found grasped II
her hand that night--the revolver tina
almost beyond question was the wea
pom from which the fatal shot wa
fred-was not hers. And that one dis
covery changed. in my eyes. the who'll
aspect of the case" said Stephen
Finding her with that weapon in he
hands. l had assumed it to be hers
l khlA CAu 0u0 1au ~ IA hSA PoooCoSAO
unknown to Us at the rectory, ha
stolen out armed with this. But tn
revolver was not hers: it could no
have been in her possession whel
that inexplicable impulse of the sic
brain made her steal out that nigh
That revolver was identified only
few days ago as belonging to some
one in the village. have no douh
now that Olive Vanstone found tn
man lying dead with the weapon nea
him. and had mechanically picked /
up"
II But the reyolyer-to whom did
belong?" broke In Lathom. In uncor
cealed impotence.
ITO Bonholt Hume"
ITO Bonholt Hume!" echoed L.
|, thom. In surprise. 1T 10 strange
IoooNNNeeNesees
About housekeeping.
u High finance Is making two share