Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1909-12-30

t5l0RSN. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES = Is ~
No one respected It. but eyerybOd@]
read 1t. Aladjev had reached his goal-
His financial resources grew daily, his
income became magnificent
But the years of such feverish activ-
ity left their traces. Aladjev grew
old and infirm. Against his will there
| arose in the bottom of his soul
old long-forgotten, forcibly-suppressed
longings. They brought in their train
the painful consciousness of duality,
an uncomfortable self-detestation.
His youngest daugnter-the only
one of his children whom he loved
had left him after she had told him
that she was ashamed of her father.
She became lost among the hundreds
Of others pure of heart, unselfish of
purpose and deep of feeling like her
self 80
Over his desk hung her picture
Her eyes looked reproachfully down
on him. Right under her beseeching
eyes, nay, in defiance of them. he
wrote his clever, cold, lying articles.
And yet Aladjev felt that there was
, more holy truth in one of her mis-
takes than in all his cold calculations.
Insomnia tortured him: in his sleep
less nights he could not drive away
| the all-pervading dread of death.
The stiffness of the night spoke to
him in mystic dreams. The figure of
his sorrowing daughter gave battle to
his agony in loving kindness.
He feared solitude. Late at night,
when he did his work, all the deep
shadows seemed to become alive.
His dreams we're heavy. He stood
! before the judgment seat and could
not justify himself. Unknown shades,
! covered with blood, abject in their
despair, passed before him accusingly
and their number did not end. Il
know them not" he said. 81 did not
hate them; If have harmed them
it had to be, because it was to my
advantage" Their number increased
continually, they grew up like a wall
between him and the Judge, they
reached out after: him, showed him
their wounds-and, in nameless dread,
he crawled out of his bed, shaking in
every joint
The first report of the massacres
reached the editorial rooms. His CO.
workers talked subdued, in whispers
Aladjev said nothing. He wrote
an editorial in his usual manner. He
said a few ;, words of regret and
then he tried to show how unavoid-
able, how inevitable, how almost
necessary we're these events. He
made use of a knavish trick. The
massacres were not, he argued. the
result of deliberate Indictment: no. on
the contrary. the massacresv proved
how justified had been the cam
paign of Indictment He was pleased
by the thought that he did not in
cite the riots.
He ate his dinner with relish and
was in good humor. He went to
the theater to see a French farce.
fingered at supper. and came home
late, little. tired, but pleasantly agi-
tated. On his dressingn-table was the
obl00g envelope: this time it had a
wide black border
$50 you are mourning for the vic
inns of the massacre" he exclaimed,
sneeringly. He placed the letter with.
out opening it under his pillow, and
Immediately fell asleep. z ~
He awoke suddenly. He did not
know what had happened. Icy dread
was strangling him by the throat.
The black border Of the letter stood
in front of him and gripped his chest.
A terrible pain had made him
insensible. Soon he began to compre-
bend. Yes, that was it. Why had
he put the letter under his pillow? II
was the black border which had ter.
rorized him. Suddenly he saw clearly.
i Those hateful letters we're the dread.
full shadows which tortured him. II
he could but get rid OF them all would
be we'll, the shadows would disappear.
and his -oul would find peace. He
arose from his bed and, without put
ting on any garment, he tiptoed into
his working room. The full moon
flooded the room with pale light. He
opened the drawer. There were the
o.
them. He took them out one BY one
, read each. andathreweit away. But the
more he threw away, the more re
manned. Everything was Uttered with
them-the floor, the chairs, the couch
, the tables. He hurried in fear, tol
these yellowed sheets whispered be
hind his back-he was afraid to turn
around-they conspired against him
They flew around like flock of white
. birds, and touched him with theil
wings. He drove them away, but they
, surrounded him in ever narrowing cir
cles, thier number grew and grew
they slapped his face with their wings
and every movement of their Missed
the one word, "Scoundrel."
. And suddenly the circle opened
, What was this? The letter with the
black border stood in front Of him
rAa ao.,h1o ohnof nnonod o~a ho~or