Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-03-26

her interest na0 opened eagerly to
these scenes. The solitudes soothed,
and the life of the community below.
frankly primitive and uncomplicated,
attracted her. Between the town of
Smoky Mountain and the expensive
sanitarium on the ridge a great social
gulf was fixed. The latter's patrons
for the most part came and went by
the narrow gauge road that linked with
northern junction. The settlement far
below was only a feature of the pano-
rama for which they paid so we'll
Even DR.. Brent, who had perched this
place of healing where his patients
could breathe air fresh from the Pa
cifc and cooled by the snow peaks,
knew 1t chiefly through two of its citi
zens-Mrs. Halloran, the capable, bus
ting wife Of the proprietor of the
Mountain Valley House, the towns
single hosiery, who brewed old fash
Toned blackberry wine and cordials for
his patients, and Tom Fielder, a young
lawyer whom he had known on the
coast before Ill health had sent him to
hang out his single in a more genial
altitude.
The latter sometimes came for a chat
with the physician, and on one of these
calls Jessica and he had met. She had
liked his keen. good humored face and
waving, slightly craving hair. She
had met him once since on the moun
tain road, and he had walked with her
on6 told hnr u1ainf ctorfhc Nf TIM
townspeople. He had taken her to
Mrs. H~alloran, whose heart she had
won by praise of her cherry cordial.
at brings back my boyhood," David
Stires said to her n afternoon, tap
ping the bottle by his wheel chair
Somehow this has the old taste"
"It is nearly gone" she said. "I'n
get another bottle. I am going for q
ride now. 1 think it does you good"
Before you 60" he said, "fetch my
writing case, and I will dictate a let
ter"
She brought and opened 1t with a
trouble at her heart, for the request
showed his increasing weakness. I'm
til today the few letters he had writ
ten had been done with his own hand
Thinking of this as she waited, her
fingers %nervously plucked at the inside
of the leather cover. The morocco flap
fell and disclosed a slip Of paper. Ii
was a Cancelled bank draft. 1t bore
Hugh's name, and across its face in Da
vid Stires' Grabbed hand, written large
was the venomous word Forgery"
The room swan before her eyes
Only by a fierce effort could she com
pei her pen to trace the dictated words
Hugh's misdeed, evil Is it was, had
been to her but an abstract crime
Now 1t suddenly lay bare before her, q
concrete expression of coarse thievery,
a living symbol of crafty stimulation
Scarce knowing why she did 1t, she
drew the draft covertly from its re
ceptacle and slipped 1t into her bosom.
The evidence of Hugh's sini That
paper must remain, as the sin that
made 1t remained, the sign manual of
her dishonor and loss. The man whose
hand had penned its lying signature
was the man she had thought she
loved. BY that act he had thrust him
self frSH-her forever Yet he lived
Somewhere in the world he walked in
shame and degradation beyond the
pale of honorable living. and she was
his wife! She was his wife! Though
she called herself Jessica Holme, yet in
the law his name and fame were hers.
"Look at that steady hand now, an
her hair as red as glory!' said Mrs.
Halloran, gazing admiringly from the
doorstep where she had been chatting
with Tom Fielder. Eye needn't stare
yer gray eyes out, though, or she'll
stop at the joolry shop to buy We a
ring-to shame ye fer jest hankerin'
and sayin' nothin'l"
Fielder laughed as he crossed the
street, raising his felt hat CALAMITY to
the approaching rider. Mrs. Halloran
was a privileged character. 1t was not
Michael Halloran who kept the Noun
tain Valley House popular! The old
woman hurried to the curb and tied
the horse as Jessica dismounted.
GLOW did We guess | made some
more this day?" she exclaimed. Sure,
IL ye drink it yerself, my dearie, them
cheeks is all tn trademark | needp'
She led the way into the little carpeted
side room, by courtesy denominated
"the parlor." "Ill go an put it up in
two shakes" she said. "Sit we down
an I'll not be ten minutes" So say
ing, she hustled away.
Left alone. Jessica gazed abstract
eddy about her. Her mind was still
full of the painful reflections of her