Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-01-14
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AS 1t happened Mrs. Halioran's first
greeting set her anxiety at rest. Prem
dergast had bought, some tobacco at
the general store an hour before while
she had been making her daily order,
and the storekeeper had questioned
him. To an Interested audience he
had told of the finding of Hugh on
the mountain road In sort Of crazy
fever and enlarged upon the part the
girl on horseback had played. Hugh
was all right now, he said. except that
he didn't remember him or the cabin
or Smoky Mountain.
What Prendergast 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 Deylin, and with sympa-
thetic rhetoric Mrs. Halloran told this
too. a.,
why does Smoky Mountain hate
him SO? What has he done?" asked
Jessica.
Mrs. Halloran shook her head. &c
| never knew anything myself" sht
said judiciously. 81 reckon the tow
| allus counted him just general low
| down. The rest is only suspicion an
| give the dog a bad name"
| There had been comfort for Jessics
In this interview. Mrs. Halloran's
story had materially increased thu
| poignant force Of her pity. What hat
seemed to her a vulgar brawl ha(
been in reality a courageous and un
selfish championship of defenseles'
outcast Thinking of this. the sell
blame and contrition which she ha(
| felt when she listened to the violin
assailed her anew, till she seemed {
very part of the guilt, an equal sinne
by omission.
Yet she rode homeward that da.
with almost light heart.
AS Harry stood in the cabin door
way looking after Prendergast towart
the town. glistening far below in th'
morning sunlight, he thought bitterl.
OF his reception there.
l
"Every one knew NEON the street. II
the hotel. They know me for what
have been to them. Yet to me it is al
a blank. What shameful deeds have
done" He shrank from memory now
"What was l doing so far away, wher
was l going. on the night when ! wa
picked up beside the railroad track?
may be a drunkard," he said to him
self. mo. in the past month hav
drunk hard. but not for the taste of tn
liquor. l may be gambler, / may b.
cheat, thief Yet how is it possibl
for bad deeds to be blotted out ant
leave no trace? Actions breed habit i
they do not spring from ii. and habi
automatically repeated becomes char
acter. feel no inherent propensity t
rob or defraud. Shall 1? VIII theS
things come back to ME If my memor.
dOes?''
In the battle that he fought now b
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 an
sorted their litter of odds and ends
!. But at times the inclination to escap
became well nigh insupportable. Whel
the conflict was fiercest he woul
. think of girls face once seen, an
! the thought would restrain him. VIII
| was she? Why had her look pierce
through him? In that hateful caree
D that seemed SO euriotlsIy alien coul
l she have had part?
He did not know that she of whor
4 he wondered in the bitterest of thos
2 hours had been very near him; that O
i her way up the mountain she ha
stolen down f, to the Knob to loo
: through the parted bushes to the cabi
with the blue spiral rising from 1t
chimney. vr
Though the homely task to which b
turned failed to allay his struggle b