Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1909-01-05
(R chaprer. zs

work and resultant of forces in his
own past. He himself had set Hugh's
feet on the red path that had pointed
him to the shameful terminus. He had
gambled for Hugh's future. forgetting
that his past remained thing that
must be covered. He had won Hugh's
counters, but his own right to be him.
self he had staked and lost long before
that game on the communion table un-
der the painted crucifixion.
The words he had once said to Hugh
required to him with kind of awe:
put myself in your place? l wish to
God could!''
Fate-or was it God ?-had taken him
at his word. He had been hurled like
a stone from catapult into Hugh's
place-to bear his knavery, to suffer his
dishonor and to redeem the baleful rep
utation he had made.
A step outside the cell. the turning
of the key. The door opened, and
Jessica, pale and trembling, stood on
the threshold.
II cannot help IT, she said as she
came toward him, though you told
me not to come. have trusted all the
while and waited and-and prayed.
But today was afraid. Surely. sure
ly. the man you are protecting has had
time enough. Hasn't he? Won't you
tell them the truth nowY
He knew not how to meet the piteous
reproach and terror of that look. She
had not heard the street preachers
declaration, he knew, but even If she
had 1t would have been to her only
an echo Of the old mooted likeness. He
had given her comfort once. but this
was no more to be, no matter what 1t
meant to him or to her.
"Jessica," he said steadily, when
you came to me here that first day
and ! told you not to fear for me did
not mean to deceive you. thought
then that 1t would all come right. But
something has happened since then
something that makes difference.
cannot tell who was the murderer of
Moreau. cannot tell you or any one
else. either now or at any time"
She gazed at him startled. She had
sudden conception of some element
hitherto unguessed In his makeup
something lnveterate and adamant.
Could it be that he did not intend to
tell at all? The very idea was mon
strous. Yet that clearly was his mean
Ing. She looked at him with flashing
eyes.
you mean you will mott" she ex-
claimed bitterly. You are bent on
sacrificing yourself, then? You are go
ing to take this risk because you think
it brave and noble, because somehow
it fits your mans gospel. Can't you
see how wicked and selfish it is? You
are thinking only of him and of your
self. not Of me-"
"Jessica, Jessicaw he protested, with
a groan. But in the self torture of her
questionlngs she paid no heed.
Don't you think ! suffer? Haven't
borne enough in the months since
married you for you to want to save
me this? Do you owe me nothing, me
whom you so wronged. whose
She stopped suddenly at the look on
his face Of mortal pain. for she had
struck harder than she knew. 1t pierre
ed through the fierce resentment to her
deepest heart. and all her love and pity
gushed back upon her in torrent.
She threw herself on her knees by the
bare cot, crying passionately:
"Oh. forgive me! Forget what said!
l did not mean 1t. have forgiven you
thousand times over never ceased
to love you. l love you now more than
all the world"
ut is true" he said. hoarse misery in
his tone. II have wronged you. If
could coin my blood drop by drop to
pay for the past could not set that
right If giving my life over and over
again would save you pain would
give 1t gladly. But what you ask now
is one thing l cannot do. 1t would
make nae pitiful coward. did not
kill Moreau. That is all can say to
you or to those who try me-"
.Your life!' she said with dry lips.
ut will mean that That counts so
fearfully much to me. more than my
own life hundred times. Yet there is
something that counts more than all
that to you"
holds his hand in the fire. "Jessica,"
he said. ut is like this with me. When
you found me here-the day saw you
on the balcony-I was a man whose
soul had lost Its compass and its bear
ings. My conscience was asleep. You
woke 1t. and 1t Is fiercely alive now.
And now with my memory has come
back debt Of my past that never
paid. Whatever the outcome. for my
souls sake must settle 1t now and
wipe 1t from the score forever"
She rose slowly to her feet with a
despairing gesture.
He saved Others" she quoted in
hard voice; himself he could not
save! once heard minister preach
from that text at home 1t was your
friend, the Rev. Henry Sanderson.
thought 1t a very spiritual sermon
then. That was before knew what
his companionship had been to you"
III there We're any justice in the uni
verse;" she added, lit should be he
immolating himself now, not you. But
for him you would never be here. He
ruined your life and mine, and hate
and despise him for selfish hypo-
crite.''
That was what he himself had
seemed to her In those old days. The
edge Of flush touched his forehead
as he said slowly, almost appealingly:
HE was not hypocrite, Jessica.
Whatever he was It was not that Az