The Mena weekly star., 1913-01-09
in the main scholarly and intel

5iduCet CoHpelllnS ana luSlSLenL, Q0 manded an answer.
 Ten years"
 You have known many men of all classes as a lawyer and a planter?" said the judge. Fentress inclined his head. The judge took step nearer him. People have a great trick of coming and going in these western states-all sorts of damned riffraff drift in and out of these new lands" deadly earnestness lifted the judges words above mere rudeness. Fen tress, cold and distant, made no reply. For the past twenty years I have been looking for man by the name of Gatewood-David Gatewood." Dis ciplined as he was, the colonel start ed violently. Ever heard of him, Fentress?" demanded the judge with a savage scowl.
 What's all this to me?" The words came with a gasp from Fentress' twitching lips. The judge looked at him moody and frowning
 T have reason to think this man Gatewood came to west Tennessee" he said.
 If so, I have never heard of him."
 Perhaps not under that name-at any rate, you are going to hear of him now. This man Gatewood, who be- tween ourselves was damned scoun- drel"-the colonel winced-"this man Gatewood had a friend who threw money and business in his way-a planter he was, same as Gatewood. A sort of partnership existed between the pair It proved an expensive en- terprise for Gatewood's friend, since he came to trust the damned scoun- drel more and more as time passed even large sums of his money were in Gatewood's hands" Fentress' countenance was like stone, as express sionless and as rigid.
 By the door stood Mahaffy with Yancy and Cavendish; they under stood that what was obscure and meaningless to them held a tragic significance to these two men. The judges heavy face, ordinarily battered and debauched, but infinitely good natured, bore now the markings of deep passion and the voice that rum- bled forth from his capacious chest came to their ears like distant thun- der.
 This friend of Gatewood's had a wife-7" The judges voice broke, emo ton shook him like a leaf; he was tearing open his wounds He reached over and poured himself drink, suck ing it down with greedy lips. There was wife" he whirled about on his heel and faced Fentress again. There was wife, Fentress-" he fixed Fen tress with his blazing eyes. "A wife and child. Well, one day Gatewood and the wife were missing. Under the circumstances Gatewood's friend was well rid of the pair-he should have been grateful, but he wasn't, for his wife took his child, daughter; and Gatewood a trifie of thirty thousand dollars his friend had intrusted to him."
 There was another silence.
 At later day I met this man who had been betrayed by his wife and robbed by his friend He had fallen out of the race-drink had done for Aim-there was just one thing he seemed to care about, and that was the fate of his child, but maybe he was only curious there. He wondered If She had lived, and married" Once more the judge paused.
 Whats all this to me?" asked Fen tress.
 Are you sure it's nothing to your" demanded the judge hoarsely. "Un- derstand this, Fentress, Gatewood' s treachery brought ruin to at least two lives. It caused the woman's father to hide his face from the world; it wasn't enough for him that his friends believed his daughter dead; he knew differently, and the shame of that knowledge ate into his soul. 1t cost the husband his place in the world, too-in the end it made of him a vagabond and a penniless wan derer."
 This is nothing to me-" said Fen tress.
 Wait" cried the judge About six years ago the woman was seen at her fathers home in North Carolina. reckon Gatewood had cast her of. She didn't go back empty-handed She had run away from her husband with a child-a girl; after lapse of twen- ty years she returned to her father with a boy of two or three. There are two questions that must be an swered when l find Gatewood: what became of the woman, and what be- came of the child; are they living ar dead; did the daughter grow up and marry and have 8 son? When I get my answer it will be time enough to think of Gatewood's punishment The judge leaned forward across the table, bringing his face close to Fen tress' face. Look at me-do you know me now?"
 But Fentress' expression never al- | tered. The judge fell back step. "Fentress, want the boy" he said | quietly
 What boy?"