The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-18

"Ralph! My son, my boy, RaIphI'
On the white face the pickering shad-
ows could not hide the marks OF dis
sipa ton nor the Tavages of disease.
Asa Cutler marked them all. He had
not known of the disease but there
was no mistaking its nature; the
temples were sunken, the face pitifully
thin: but the sight of il touched no
chord Of pity in the OIL mans heart;
instead, he inwardly moralized upon
the end to which vice was sure to
come, and was shaken with the old
ire that a son of his, a child of God
fearing parents, should have wilfully
come 10 this.
The furnishings OF the room. also
shocked his instincts The place was
large, going quite across the front of
the old fashioned house. and it had
been decked out in an attempt at the
artistic disorder Of a studio: as it was
the cheap hangings of f1imsy cotton,
the few chairs, the easel on which were
thrown q woman's coat and the outer
garments of a child the dingy casts Of
a torso and Of the Louvre Venus. all
contributed to the general untidiness
of the place; nowhere could the majesty
Of death have seemed more out of place.
Asa. Cutters innate sense of order re-
volted; he looked upon the cheap casts
as upon the candles and crucifx-they
were alike symbols of heresy, imple-
ments of the devil.
But his mind did not long dwell upon
them; he had come for the child. He
waited in the studio perhaps FIVE
minutes, and then crossed the room
and knocked upon q door which he
thought might lead into a bedroom. He
had to repeat his knock more than once,
however, before any one replied; then
the door opened. and closed quickly be-
hind a woman. Asa Cutler realized at
once that she was his sons wife: her
eyes wore the hard dryness of bitter
grief, aud her face looked tired and
wan, as If from long watching and
care.
Closing the door behind her. she
stood for a moment with her hand still
on its knob. looking intently into the
mans face; Asa Cutler returned her
gaze with one no less searching, and
as her eyes did not falter before his
frown- his jaw frightened ominously
The woman seemed to decide from her
scrutiny that It was useless to waste
time over preliminaries; she need make
no show of courtesy to Asa Cutler. and
no form of introduction was necessary
between them; she had the advantage
Of knowing something of the old mans
character, while he knew nothing what
ever of herself. beyond the fact that
she was the widow Of his son and the
mother of his grandson. Her instinct
told her what he had come for.
She spoke unfalteringly: her voice
was well mOdulated. and Asa Cutler
was Immediately aware Of a refinement
in her which he had not expected-a
refinement. indeed. which he himself did
not possess. It was one more reason
for his dislike; he felt that she would
use Il as z weapon against his own
crudeness OF the countrybred.
You have come too late, Mr. Cut
Ter, the woman said. There is moth
ing for you TO do here
The old man was keen enough to
mark the sarcasm beneath her quiet
words. and he felt that all his sus-
piCiOns against her were confirmed
I am not too late for what / come
to do he said. Where is the child2"
The woman looked at him for q mo-
ment. then walked toward the place
where her dead husband lay, and stood
beside him. There is your child" she
said. pointing downward.
asa Cutler did not move from his
place. He had no subtIety with which
70 meet ners. Where's the boy. his
boy?" he demanded.
The woman lifted her white face,