Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1909-08-05
could keep silent no longer. The long

| lntolerable to be borne. lie muS'
speak.
| He had meant to keep silence yet
a little longer, till he could have seer
Olive and warned her; but the sight OF
the man he was injuring, the poig
nant realization of his own treachery
and sin, personified in this hunted
mans plight, broke down that resolve
resistlessly as a wave beats down
i Child's castle of sand.
Not another hour, not another mo
ment, would he bear that burden OF
| conscious treachery that he had tah
en- on his shoulders for the sake of !;
woman. He must speak now.
"a confession, Ruthen? Why, wha
do you mean?" cried Jack Lathom
startled by the strange, excited man
ner and the wild eyes of the man con
| fronting him, with unconcealed agita
| ton traced as with brand on the
| haggard face; and Hilda caught her
| breath, conscious that the atmosphere
had suddenly become electrical.
Something like cry of relief broke
from the blind man.
God help me, Lathom, for the
wrong I've done you; but from the
| first I've had proof that the revolver
from which the shot was fired that
have allowed you to suffer to screen
wOman!"
A dead pause followed Stephens
words.
A startled, almost incredulous look
had flashed into Lathom's face, as
into Hilda's; but the formers tones
were restrained and quiet, as he said
you mean that you know-have
known all along-who killed Hume
That it was a woman?"
cat the time I thought it was wo'
man." said Stephen Ruthen, finding
words with difficulty-"a woman had
once loved, who had promised to be
my wife"
"Olive Vanstone!" broke in Hilda,
realizing from the last allusion what
| woman he must mean. "But that is
impossible; she was i'll in bed on the
night Philip Hume is believed to have
met his DEATH" The statement seem
ed so wild that she thought her broth
er's mimi must be wandering.
mo, she was out on the moor road
that night" he answered, slowly; 81
know it, for | found her there, bending
over the dead man in the snow-th1s
woman whom Philip Hume had
wronged as deeply as a man can
wrong woman"
THE woman who was in the yes.
try" the blind man whispered to him
self. Il knew she was there-I knew
it,"
The rector's voice went on. The
twilight was deepening in the room
and the white, drawn face was In shad'
ow as he spoke, at first falteringly
with shame mingling in the tones with
a certain fierce relief that the confess
sion of what had been like milestone
about his neck was being made at
last
Phrase after phrase, sentence after
sentence threw fresh colors on to the
canvas of the dramatic story that
came with strange, shuddering thrill
to the listening audience of three In
the room. Now he was recountina
how he had found Olive Vanstone
dazed and dumb, like woman whose
mind was sleeping, grasping the wea
pom whose polished barrel glittered
evilly in the faint light of the stars
now of his desperate resolve to get
her away from the fatal spot unseen
when the muffled tapping of the blind
mans stick had grown out Of the dis
lance, bringing it's sudden menace to
the woman he meant at all cost to
save, forcing him to drag the lifeless
figure out of the roadway to the drift
ed snow at the foot of the stone cross
of the journey back, won in safety as
by miracle; of the sleeping nurse
whose lie would establish an alibi.
And you let Jack suffer- You
knew this-yet you let him suffer-
broke in Hilda, passionately, her voice
| charged with the hostility that had
ASdpt 111IO Acl CJCo VIII CAlo COuICo
sion by her brother of a wrong she
| had never dreamed Of.
He made a movement as Of appeal
| towards her.
But that night speak of was near
| ly three weeks before the dead man
was found, before suspicion fell or
anyone. l thought then that hurt nc
one by my silence. And she was g
woman | had loved-loved still. MY
sin was not in shielding her then, with
his blood on her hands as l then be
lieved-for she was in a state when
she was not morally responsible fol
her acts-a woman who had beer
brought almost to the verge of mad
ness by the wrong she had suffered,
he said, in low voice.
And you would have let me be
found guilty and sentenced, to screen
this woman-though the law would
not have punished a woman who al
the time was not responsible for hel
actions?" Lathom said, quietly and
colby. There was no hint in his voice
of the passionate resentment he fell
against this man he had regarded q!
his friend. His eyes were hard ant
contemptuous.
To Be Continued.