The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-09
CHATTER -
The Panel of Light.

.. AhS EaHSi OF EI9nGs
VHE lids of the girls eyes lifted
slowly, and she stared at the
panel of light in the wall Just
at the outset the act Of seeing
made not the least impression on her
numbedJ BRAIN For long time she
continued to regard the dim fllumina-
ton La the wall with the same passive
dxity of gaze Apathy still lay upon
her crushed spirit. In a vague way
she realized her own inertness and rest
ed in it gratefully, subtly fearful lest
she again arouse to the full horror of
her plight In a curious subconscious
fashion she was striving to hold on to
this deafness Of sensation, thus to win
a little respite from the torture that
had exhausted her soul.
OF sudden her eyes noted the black
lines that lay across the panel of light,
and in that instant her spirit was
quickened once again The clouds lift
ed from her brain. Vision was clear
now. Understanding seized the full
import of this hideous thing on which
she looked For the panel of light was
a window set high within a wall of
stone. The rigid lines of black that
crossed it were bars-prfson bars. 1t
was still true, then. She was In cell
of the Tombs.
Crouching miserabIy on the narrow
bed, she maintained her fixed watching
of the wfndow-that window which
was a symbol of her utter despair.
Again agony wrenched within her
The girl was appalled, by the merci-
lessness of a destiny that had so out
ragged right. She was wholly innocent
of having done any wrong. She had
keep herself clean and wholesome, wor-
GAy of those gentlefolk from whom she
drew her blood And earnest effort
had ended at last under an overwhelm-
ing accusation, false, yet none the less
fatal to her. This accusation after soul
wearying delays had eliminated today
in conviction The sentence of the
court had been imposed upon her-that
for three years she should be impris-
oned-
: There had been nothing in the life
Of Mary Turner before the catastrophe
came to distinguish it from many an
other. Its most significant details were
of sordid kind, familiar to poverty
Her father had been an unsuccessful
man as success is esteemed by this gen
Grafton of Mammon worshfpers He
was a gentleman, but the trivial fact
~ OF small dVail To-Day He was OF gOOQ
birth. and he was the possessor of an
Inherited competence. He had as well
Intelligence, but it was not of a fnan-
eiaI sort
So, little by little, his fortune be-
came shrunken toward nOthingness
by reason of injudiciOus investments.
He married a charming woman, who.
after a brief period of welded happi-
ness, gave her life to the birth of the
single child of the union, Mary. AS
the years passed the daughter grew
toward maturity in an experience of
ever increasing perjury The girl was
In the high school when her father
finally gave over his rather feeble eff
fort of living At his death the father
left her q character well instructed in
the excellent principles that had been
his own OF worldly goods, not the
value of pin.
Yet. measured according to the stern
standards of adversely, Mary was for
tunate Almost at once she procured
a humble employment in the Empor1-
UNI, the great department store own
2 ed by Edward Glider. To be sure, the
UAaa Rag 3tnduitesmab -Nhile the ton