The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1913-07-03

instant a fooTlsbly smiling chIid-burnt
into their memories. Haig and Muir.
chcll emerged from the home Of War.
rem Blake. Hair stopped. looking up
II wonder what John Dunmeade Ia
going through just now7 can see
the end. The good have no luck.
There's curse on the man responsible
for this night. Old man. do you say
amen7 You and will have 10 discuss
the matter Of payment"
He caught the other by the shout
ders, peered closely into his face and.
laughing harshly. turned away.
Through q night that seemed endless
a man fought battle old as sin itself
He had sought the solitude OF the fields
In a blind. vain wish to escape the
issue and the thing that filled his eyes
He had come NJ near to greatness
And now. at an hour when he seemed
most 10 need stimulus and support. he
was brought face TO face with the
temptation TO desert. II was one thing
In moment OF dlsheartenment TO cry.
as he had cried TO himself. 81 have
come 10 the end" II was far different
when opportunity had come TO revive
a sinking cause 10 stay his hand. lie
knew he had but 10 reach out 20 dis.
close. not an Excalibur rising out OF
the waters to lend invinclbility 10
him who would WELD II. but a new
prod for a calloused people. one fact
the more to add 10 the knowledge.
whose cumulative power In the end
would-must-carry the people for.
ward. upward.
IL was IIampden. Katherine and
John Dunmeade against the people.
And what did he owe the people, the
calloused fools whose knowledge. II
not complete. was yet full enough 10
show them whittier they were going
and whittier they must turn, but who
trudged contentedly on. Indifferent TO
all but the present profit. thinking
only OF self. repudiating and sneering
at those who offered honest service
and counsel? The balance was all
against them and In his favor. Let
some one else now take up the task
TO which John Dunmeade bad been
unequal.
lie saw stephen Ilampden covering.
a suddenly broken. fear palsled man.
before the death agony. looking with
kind OF wiStfulness on the dying
mans face, rs though In Warren
Blake's example he saw way ont Of
the tangle. A troop Of miserable. pitt
N Afrtt h.f L.
ton, Brown, Parsons, Sheehan. Blake
men whom he had punished. whose
lives he had shattered or taken in his
crusade-to what end? Their places
had been taken by other men OF like
kind. the world no better. no wiser.
so far as he could see. Behind the
troop marched regiment Of men and
women. his neighbors. whose little
savings would he lost. did the bank
fail through his disclosures, but might
be preserved II Murchelrs promise to I.
intervene was kept Was there not
more virtue In mercy than in punish.
ment?
For long. In the fear OF the man who
knows himself weakening. he refused
10 face the crucial fact But he had
to come 10 ito her-at last. He
saw her as he had last seen her. the .
rose in bloom. strong woman re
fined and softened by some heart pro
cess Of which he knew nothing II he
went forward he must cloud the splen.
dor and beauty Of her womanhood
with disgrace and suffering lie re-
volted against the thought why must
she. innocent. and AT his hand. be
made to suffer the penalty that others
had earned? Could he strike the blow;
IL made no difference that she had
fiouted him for unworthy things. As
once before nothing that she could
say had added 10 the temptation that
lay in her very existence. so now moth
Ing that she had done could take from
the fact Of his love For II lived. He
could find through the years In unceas.
Ing work an anodyne 10 deaden the
ache. but on this Mount Oliyet II lived
again. throbbing passion that sub
merged all things else. He had not
the strength OF God. be told himself
He could not be so merciless 20 her.
TO himself
He fed homeward In the waning light
md prayed feverishly for daylight
BY his window. rs once he had
watched a dawn OF promise. he saw II
,ome. but without promise. At last
he battle ended. too tired to seek bis .
led, he fell asleep in the chair.