Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-07-18
"The Gates of Silence .
By Meta SmmtnS, Anthor Of flushed Up"

81 eoAAiNOiS VI gray chill Jndt are the /
amaze and despair of an English sum |
mer' lights had been turned on in the
court, and nebulous haze like the smoke
of incense hung in the air Watching the /
Judge, the inancier could have imagined |
that the general apathy had communi-
Gated Itself to him-that his perfectly Just |
ana impartial words yet covered some |
thlng Of the uninterestedness of a fore
gone conclusion
man sitting near him whispered |
ne jury have no need to consider their |
verdict, and SAKE, pretending not to
nave heard. yet acquiesced in his heart
ana no one in the court would have ac- |
guessed more heartily than the prisoner |
himself had he heard the words. He had |
no defense he had known that when he
entered the dock. The few witnesses
called on his behalf had been worthless
so lar as the case was commemorative
nesses as to character and general SAN
NY OF pursuit such as the average man |
would nave no difficulty in calling
whereas the case for the prosecution had |
been strong right through: he himself
would not have hesitaed to condemn a
man on II From the evidence of Leth |
bridge and Bondrax the club gossips. who
mad sedulously retailed his foolish bragg
Sadoelo regarding ,Fitzstephens. to the
evidence OF the taxi driver who. in fit |
Oh conscience engendered by the nagging
OF ms wife, had come forward with his |
most conclusive and damaging statement |
regarding the fare he had picked up so
near Tempest street.
More than Betty's silence. that hurt
him so strangely even while he thanked |
heaven for whatever had brought it; more |
IMAM Paul Saxe's evidence so skiIlfullv /
given with that assumed reluctance that |
gave additional weight to every point
lnls evidence of the little cockney who |
had acted so friendly part toward him
on the night az the murder hurt Riming-
ton his nerves strained to swapping point
now by the two days strain
Awaiting the End
There was no one to be depended upon
1t seemed, on earth. And in heaven?
The heavens were as brass above him.
He stood there waiting. a man tasting
the worst agony that the heart can know,
the final eXtinguishing of hope within it,
or those personally interested in the
case, only one person left the court after
the judges summing up and was away |
during the time considerably under half |
an hour-that the jury were absent con-
sidering their verdict That person was
Paul SAKE. Those who observed him
closely-and Betty Lumsden, the woman !
Who In the nature OF things knew that
whatever the outcome of todays trial
might be. one day she might be called |
upon to fulfill her promise and become /
the wife of this man. was one of them
say that an unusual spirit of restless
ness possessed SAKE He looked i'll in |
mind and body-the atmosphere of radiant
health that was his most salient charac-
fopic fin hoA
victim Of an accident lately. people said
noticing livid. scarcely healed wound |
which dishgured one side of his face. |
Only two people-Saxe himself and the |
proprietor of the curio shop at the sign of |
the Toby jug in the quiet back street
of Observation-Disclosures the precise nature |
of that accident, which had occurred on
the day that Samuel Jexs sorely at
hicted daughter, Jennie, died.
THAT man-that evil man." Betty whis-
pered in her heart He and l between |
us-he and I-are sending Jack to his
death"
Even now-now. before IT was too late |
she must speak and tell all she knew
How often she had assured herself of |
that imperative necessity, but now the |
sands were running out fast-fast.
She clenched her hands and gave a fee
Die niue moan One or the men at the I
table near her looked around and made
a movement as though to rise She rec
ognized him as Rimington's solicitor, and |
tried to smile.
She must speak
The remembrance Of those words which |
Paul SAKE had whispered in her ear on
that day when Rimngton had been ar
rested danced before her eyes in letters
of fire The awful argument for silence
against which even her love-that love
that would have given life itself to save
this man in the dock-was not proof
That argument that seemed woven out
of the very flesh and blood of those most
near to her.
Centuries seemed to her to eapse be-
fore the door opened and the jurymen were
tered an ominous hush settled upon the
court
The Awful Hour.
Betty gave one agonized glance about
her. a half-unconscious glance-and as
she looked the faces looming out of that
great crowd seemed to merge into one
composite face alight with an awful eX
pectant eagerness-a thirst for blood
Then, unwillingly, her eyes rested for a
terrified moment on the prisoner in the
dock who had just been brought in again
between his warders Their eyes met,
her lovers and her own. and she knew,
despite the space that separa tee. them, the
reassurngly The smile scared her heart
like fame.
Continued Tomorrow.