Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1913-03-20
CHAPTER XXI.
The Great John Rawn.

tops, somewhere In the forests III,
forces OF nature gathered, marched on
toward the sea. Somewhere dumblv
mutely, accomplishing, the great river
and its mate. the great power, inter
stellar. not international-they two
as ne but now vauntingly had dreamed
erstwhile silent partners of Jobr
Rawn--did their work. Fo,
| whom? For wbat7 49,,
That, my brothers. The answer Is
your own. AS you and | shall SNEAK
IN mat answer, so shall our children
eat ~e.!, sleep well. in days yet to
come, in this country which we still
call our own, now all to little ours.
II was far past midnight when John
RaWn again came down the stair. so.
beTed and whitened by what he had
seen in the death chamber. He tin.
toed now back to the library door
through which and beneath whose
silken curtains still there pierced a
little shaft of light. He opened the
door, peered in.
He saw Virginia sitting there silent,
white, unagitated. her features cameo.
sharp, her skin waxen, indeed marble
white, a woman as motionless. as ST.
lent, apparently as little animate as
the one he had left behind him in the
1eath chamber beyond the stair. She
turned her eyes, not her face, toward
aim, but did not speak. The edge Of
her gown was moist, stained.
John Rawn looked in turn at the
long figure upon the couch. motion
less, silent, its hands folded. Neither
lid IT speak to him. Suddenly on
pressed, suddenly afraid, he turned
once more away. Irresolution was in
ais soul, uncertainty.
Rawn was hardly sure that he st,JI
lived, that he still was the same Jobn
Rawn he once had known. II seemed
impossible that all these things could
nave fallen upon him. who had not de.
served them! He pitied himself with
vast pity, revolving at the mauy in.
justices Of fortune now crowding upon
aim, wholly blameless man. Wby.
a day before, he had held in his hand
power such as few men could equal:
A-1 AANF RANeCAANAg DEAOE6 HILL po"EE
none other ever could hope to equal
That opportunity still existed. But
how now could he avail himself of thai
opportunity, how could he go on to be
the great John Rawn, If this figure or
the couch could not rise, could not
speak to him, could not perform the
obvious duty of rendering needfuI as
sistance to him, John Rawn? The
cruelty of it all ranked in the great
and justice-loving soul of Mr.. Rawn
Why, he was penniless-he-JohP
Rawn! He was not even sure about
his wife, yonder. She had said things
to him he could not understand, could
not believe.
He left the room, and walked stip
farther down the hall, his head sag
ging, his lower lip pendulous, his face
warped into a pucker of self-pity-sc
absorbed, that first he did not heed
an approaching football. He paused
almost in touch of some one who ap
preached him in the half-lighted hall;
some one who was coming down the
stair and along the hall with steady
tread.
There stood before him now the
same tall, gray-haired,. unfashionably
dressed woman whom so recently he
vaguely had noted at a distance in the
hall above; some woman apparently
busy with duties connected with the
death chamber, as he had reflected
when he saw her; some neighbor, he /
presumed, and certainly useful Il
was kind of her to come at this time. /
He could not, at the time, recoHectl
that he had seen her before. Yes, he !
would reward her-he would express
his thanks.
He looked up at her now sharply, 1
and gasped.
''Laural" he exclaimed. as 1t you?"
why, yes, John" answered the tall.
gaunt woman gently Didn't you see
me, up there? l suppose you we're too
much troubled to notice me, John
Yes. I'm here. / thought maybe ]
ought to come.
But you see-this-" she held out
to him the letter she had picked up
from the hall table This didn't get
to her-Grace-not in time. She died
this morning, before noon, they tell
me- She never knew her mother was
coming to her when she was in
trouble. She hadn't seen my letter to
her, telling I was coming. l knew
she was in trouble-and saw all the
stories in the papers. / thought I'd
tell her was coming to her-and you,
John. She was my girl, after ALL j
knew she was in trouble"
How did you know?"
Why, she wrote to me, Of course
A girl always writes to her mother
when she's in trouble. She wrote to
ne right often. She wasn't-wen, she
wasn't happy. John. and she often told
ne that. Something wrong was going
On between her and Charley, don't
Know what"
He stood looking at her, stupefed,
Is she went on, simply.
John. married folks oughtn't to be
part too much. They sort OF get
yeaned from each other. Grace was
90 ambitious. Shed got, here, what
he thought her husband couldn't get,
TO BE CONTINUED