The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-03-07
PAGE FIVE

at should be he immoldttng htrnss1
notc, not yOu."
smiliar caption gave her a stab Of pain.
| Perhaps the news of the trial had
found it's way across the ranges to
where the names Of Stires and MOreau
had been known. Perhaps every ono
ut Aniston already knew Of 1t, was
reading about it. plying her. She pick
ed it up and scanned it hastily. There
was no hint of the trial, but her eye
caught the news which had played its
/ role in the courtroom, and she read ft
! to the end.
Even in her own trouble she read It
with 4 shiver. Yet. awful as the fate
which Harry Sanderson had so mar
rowly missed. it was not to be COM
pared with that which awaited Hugh.
! for, awful as it was. it held no shame.
In Il gust of feeling she slipped to
her knees by the one sofa the room
contained and prayed passionately. Al
she drew out her handkerchief to
stanch the tears that came something
! fell with musical tinkle at her feet
1t was the little cross she had found
! in front of the hillside cabin that had
lain forgotten in her pocket during tho
past anxious days. AS she pressed It
| the ring at the top gave way, and the
cross parted il halves. Words were
engraved on the inside of the arms-a
date and the name Henry SandersOn.
The recurrence of the name Jared
and surprised her. Hugh had dropped
tan old keepsake of the friend who
had been his beau ideal. his cXemplar
and whose ancient Influence was still
dominant Ee had chung loyalty to the
r,cnertc. blind il his constant liking.
| to The wrbn. hat friend had done him
She looked at the date. 1t was May
%. She shuddered. for that was the
month and day on which DR.. MORGAN
had been killed. The point had been
clearly established today by the prose-
, cUtion. To the original owner of that
cross perhaps the date that had come
into Hugh's life with such a sinister
meaning was 4 glad anniversary.
Suddenly she caught her hand
cheek. \ we'd idea had r.
J
Dol had stood for Harry Sanderscu.
and the chance coincidence Of date
had irresistihly pointed to the murder.
| To her excited senses the juxtaposi-
ton held a bizarre uncanny suG;,es-
! ton. This cross, the very emblem OF
vicarious sacrifice. Suppose Harry
Sanderson had never given it to Hugh!
J no hn1 ho 3, UCSb
| himself,
| She snatched up the paper again
WHO has been for some months on a
prolonged vacation'-the phrase stared
sardonically at her, That might carry
| far back-she said it under her breath.
fearfully-beyond the murder of DR..
| MOreau. Her face burned, and her
| breath came sharp and fast. Why
when she brought her warning to tho
cabin had Hugh been SO anxious to get
| her away unless to prevent her sight
of the man who was there to whom no
had taken her horse? Who was there
in Smoky Mountain whom he would
protect at hazard of his own life1
Jessica's veins were all afire A rec
tor murderer? A double career? Was
it beyond possibility? 1t came to her
like an impinging ray of light, the old
curious likeness that had sometimes
been made a jest of at the white
house in the aspens. Moreau and PREM
dergast had believed it to be Hugh.
So had the town, for the body had
been found on his ground. But on tho
night when the real murderer came
again to the cabin perhaps it was his
coming that had brought back the lost
memory. Hugh had known the truth.
In the light of this supposition, his
strained manner then, his present de-
termination not to speak. all stood
plain.
What had he meant by q debt OF his
past that he had never paid? He could
owe no debt to Harry Sanderson. IL
he owed any debt it was to his dead
father. thousand times more than the
draft he had repaid. Could he DO
thinking in his remOrse that his father
had cast him off, counting himself
nothing, remembering only that Harry
Sanderson had been David Stires' IA
vorite and st. James, which must be
smirched by the odium of its rector.
the apple of his eye?
Jessica had snatched at a straw, be-
cause it was the only buoyant thing
afoat in the dragging tide. Now with
blind fatuousness she Rugged It
tighter to her bosom. One purpose
possessed her-to confront Harry San
derson. What matter though she
missed the remainder of the trial1
She could do nothing. Her hands were
tied. If the truth lay at Aniston she
would find it. She thought no farther
than this. Once in Harry Sanderson's
presence. what she should say or do
she scarcely imagined The rorriry-
ing question fi.cl her Thought to tho
e-c!!-.,::on c: n. that must follow its