Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-06
TODAY IS INSTALLMENT.

So The days passed, and the weeks
heightened into months, until just-as it
seemed to him--when he had got to that
stage Of his prison life when the outer
world had become more or less Of an alb
straction, and the inner life OF the prison
a more or less numb pain. the news came
to him that for some reason his time of
probation had been shortened. and that,
instead Of spending the probationar nine
months at Norwood Scrubs, he was to
be drafted off at the end of the third 10
one Of the regular convict establishments.
The thought of the journey from Lon
don TO Bilmouth-which, after the veil of
mysterious secrecy which is characteristic
OF prison discipline in such matters was
withdrawn, he finally learned was his
destination-did not oddly enough IN
Jack Rimington with any sense Of shrink
ing. On the contrary. he felt certain
quickenng of interest In him under the
crust of apathy that every day had
seemed to be hardening upon his heart
TO leave this whitewashed cell to
breathe air that was not the contami-
mated air Of q prison exercise yard. to see
green grass that was not overshadowed
by prison walls-perhaps to hear birds
sing, the more he let his imagination
play over the pitiful fact Of his Journey
from one place of degradation to another
the more Rimington's excitement grew
For all the pain that in accomplishment
II cost him. perhaps this change saved
him his reason, or at least arrested that
mental degeneration that was undoubtedly
in progress
During the first weeks of his impris
onment his mind had wrestled with the
problem of the crime Of which he was
accused until his brain had reeled
Who had killed Fitzstephen?
lie had forced himself to face the facts
Of the money lenders death from every
point of view to callously fix the guilt
upon first one and then another Betty,
eVen-a crime Of madness; the man who
had escaped prison and the death OF
the rope TO die at the hands OF Anthony
harrington; Paul SAKE himself For a
IN the crime was SO strong as to induce
that paroXysm of despair IN which all
things solid had slipped from beneath his
feet, but gradually the conviction had
died. 1t was not Paul SAKE. II was not
Betty; no, never again would that
thought cross his mind, The weary
treadmil Of his thoughts had never
brought him any nearer to a solution, a
clew or hope and gradually The
thoughts and wonderings and mental
strivings had ceased
Even the glad vision that had some
times comforted and sometimes mad
dened him, when he had seen in imagi-
nation his cell door flung open and a
remorseful governor come to inform him
that the criminal had confessed. ana
that he was free-even that had passed
also. He had begun to acquiesce in
his lot-hegun TO settle down to he a
number, man without a name. a small
nut or rivet in a vast and complicated
piece Of machinery. when just in time had
come the merciful awakening Of the
change to Bilmouth
The shame OF moue. "
That was the phrase that came to Rim
lngton mind when he saw his fellow
travellers collected and himself mirrored
in the person Of each one of them The
hideous prison garb, marked ironically
with the, symbols of swift flight, the
ringed stockings and the great boots
He felt sick with shame at the sight Of
them, familiar as il was To be linked
to these men with the shaver heads and
the evil, degraded faces, chained to them
and paraded for all the world to see 4
rare sight to be pointed out to fortunate
children on station platforms TO be ieered
at. perhaps spat upon, by the virtuous
free! In his cell, thinking of this jour
ney, Eimington had thought of none of
these things, Now the thought of them
was TO poison every moment Of what had
doomed mp AS a great and glorious event
in his life
He dreaded lest any one should recog-
nize him as he stood in his Infamous
garh. waiting beside the train. while
about him his companions laughed and
iohed and made the most of this mo-
ment of comparative freedom He need
not have feared. even Betty herself might
have looked twice at the tall figure a