The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-10-26
CHAPTER XIII.
THE STORY.

known, of course, that ne was
getic, interchangeable, and fertile OF ca
pedient, but his results, remarkapie as
/ they often were. were usually ac4iesoa
with such apparent ease that ia"
never suspected the extent OF the GOWN
right hard work which lay back oI
them. Now. as looked over the paper
before me, i Understood and wonoereu
had left him at 10 o'clock the . nisi
before. with the mystery still unsolveu
and seemingly unsolvable. for the oIiiy
clue in his possession had led him 70
blank wall. Yet here before me was
| the story. An entire page was devoteu
to it-and an astonishing story II WIS
written with verve and vfvidness. con-
p1ete in every detail, ana Fl
with photographs and sketches OF al
the scenes and characters. There was
the. Kingdom cottage. the grave IN the
cellar, the Kingdom sisters, the NUT
,dered man, the pearl handled revo!Ves
even the coroner and the chiei OF
police Manysof the photographs. mad
and some Of them, no doubt, nao peen
used in the afternoon edition. but mere
tbey were welded into a homogeneous
whole, complete and satisfying. l
could fancy, the city editors OF the
other morning papers turning green
with. envy as they read It.
And looking at the story. l unoer-
stood. more: clearly than I had ever
done, the wide appeal of the yellow
press-it paid for the best talent In the
market; It handled its matters In a
way to attract attention: IT toio It's
stories in a style incisive and easily
|. corrprel ensible, and added the visual
anpeal of pictures, which gave the SUI
prerie touch Of reality. And 1t got the
news. Abstractly, L ann. anything but
an adrnirer Of the yellow press; con-
cretely, have. often found that TO get
the last detail Of any. event-more es-
peeially Of any. event with sensa-
tional or mysterious side-I must nave
recourse to it's columns, just as l mad
recourse. to them now. +.
AS I read on, I marvelled more and
more at the system which rendered
possible the securing OF all these de-
J tails In sd short time-subterranean
Godfrey had called it; superhuman. !
would have said, and determined that
| he should some day introduce me to 1t.
| He had run down Parello, unmasked
/ him, laid him bare in all his treachery
| and vileness; the whole sordid, terribl
| story lay reveaIed-and. as l thought
of Harriet Kingdoms sufferings and
abasement, I did not wonder that she
had shot down the brute, who: was try
| ing to drag her back to them. some
| of the details, 4, knew, Godfrey must
| have filled in for himself since there
] could be no way Of verifying them at
this. late day: but they fitted so closely
with the rest Of the structure that
| there could be no doubt OF their es-
sential truthfulness.
Such, for instance; was tho detail of
| their meeting. Parello had been ;
! teacher of music, and Godfrey shrewd-
Iy, guessed that. 1le must have met
| Harriet Kingdom and become ac-
quainted with ser at the house where
| she was err plr ed as governess The
| rest of the tory could be easily built
up; He was a handsome and magnetic
| fellow she q passionate and attractive
| woman. He has struck chord in her
which. she could not but obey. He had
| seemed then to have future befor
| him.. the brave exterior. gave no hint
of the rottenness within. He had that
| grandiloquent way of speaking of the
| future which Is characteristic Of the
Latin facesLthat' sublime faith In him
self. which needed no justification. He
| had impressed himself upon her as ID
| genius who. would one. day astonish the
world; and IL he had certain assertive
peculiarities which Jared disagreeably
at times, why. was not all genius so?
| She began by admitting him; she ended
| by yielding to him. No doubt she
fancied that she was hftching her
wagon to a star. -. :,
Whether there has been a marriage
was not certain, Godfrey believed, there
had been. At any rate, Parello had in
troduced her to his friends as his wife
and, for time, all went well. Then
the devil in the man cropped out. He
| was naturally INDECENT. He quit teach
ing under the pretext that he wished
| to compose a masterpiece, and forced
her to support him. No doubt she even
yet believed In HIM; But he dragged her
down to depths unspeakable. trampling
her into the very mire Of the Italian
| colony. 80 ;
At last, he brought his real wife
| from sItaiy to hves with him: This
to the unfortunate girls position, had
DEVISED new insults for her. and the
| end had been Bloomingdale. Up to the
| very last, such was the nature of the
woman, she had continued to love the
man.. contented to be his dog, his slave
for the privilege of being near him
| Doubtless all this time her mind was
weakening, and she chung to him out
| OF old habit. But with the sudden ac-
| cession Of madness. hate had blazed UT
| In her. white hot; and she had at
tempted to stab him. He had called
the police and she. had been dragged
/ away, cursing, shrieking, spectacle
, to shake the strongest nerves. /,
was in that struggle that he had lost
the end of his little finger. She had
| seized 1T between her teeth and bitten
! It clean through. From a:woman she
4 mad CDanSCQ INTO monster.
| But insanity of this type usually
| yields to treatment; and though Har-
| riet Kingdoms case proved to be OF
Unusual obstinacy, patience and care
| full nursing triumphed In the end, and
| reason was restored to her. Restored
| that is, as life Is restored to a man
| striker with heart disease; resting
not on the firm foundation Of assured
health, but on delicate balance
| whieh any. shock may disturb.
Not until she was ready to leave the
asylum, did her sister know hel
whereabout; doubt il she ever knew
the whole story of the sufferings
which went before. She had come
for her, had taken her back to Eliza
beth, to the home which Mrs. Law
rence's kindness and generosity had
provided.
The Parellos had remained with the
Italian colony, sinking lower and
| lower. Parello, driven by his wife
the target of her abuse now that she
no longer had any other endeavored
to resume his teaching, but he had sc
coarsened N habits and appearance
that the old doors were shut to him
STILL he managed to scrape along, al
ways on tho verge of want. Then, In
a fortunate hour. his wife had been
| run down and killed by a trolley car
he managed to exact damages for hel
death; and for the moment found him
l'seif in ,affi uence.
l. 1t was at this time that his thoughts
turned to Harriet Kingdom. Why? II
Is impoSSible to say. Perhaps he fell