Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1914-09-11
CHAPTER xvlI.-contInued.

ne time she was speaking he was
studying the profile OF her face as Il
fascinated by its strange immobility
For the matter OF full half-hour he
sat on the rail, his back against a post
bis arms folded across the breast oil
he thick ulster he wore. staring al
her. drinking In every word of the
story she told. A look of surprise
erept into his face when she came to
the point where the thought of marry.
ing Hetty to the brother OF her victim
1rst began to manifest itself In her
designs. For a time the look of In
credulity remained, to be succeeded
by utter scorn as she went on with
the recital Her reasons, her excuses,
her explanations for this master stroke
in the way OF compensation for all
that she had endured at the hands OF
the scornful Wrandalls, all of whom
wsro hateful to her without exception.
stirred him deeply. He began to un-
eerstand the forces that compelled her
70 resort to this Machiavellian plan
for revenge on them. She admitted
everything: her readiness to blight
Hetty's life forever: her utter callous-
ness In laying down these ugly plans;
her SURPRISING vindictivenesg; her re-
Sections on the triumph she was to
enjoy when her aims were fully at
tanned. She confessed to q genuine
pity for Hstty Castlston from the boz
ginning. but Il was outweighed by that
thing she could only describe as an
ebsessionl How she hated the
Wrandsils. /. Then came the
real awakening: when the truth came
70 her as revelation from God. Hetty
had not been TO blame. The girl was
innocent Of the one sin that called
for vengeance so far as she was con-
scerned. The Staying OF Challis Wran-
dali was Justified All these months
she had bsen harboring q woman she
believed to have been his mistress as
well as his murderess 1t was not SO
much the murderess that she would
have fotsted upon the Wrandalls "a q
daughter, but the mistressl :.
She loved the girl. she had loved her
from that first night Back OF It all,
therefore. lay the stern. unsupported
truth: from the very beginning she IN
stinctiveiy had known this girl to be
innocent of guile. Her house
Of cards fell down. There was moth
ing left of the plans on which 1t had
been constructed. 1t had all been
awant nwav avar a- 81 $500. A.
protect it against destruction, and the
ground was strewn with the ashes OF
fres burnt out. She was
shocked to find that she had even
built upon the evil spotl Al
most word for word she repeated Het-
tvs own story of her meeting with
Challie Wrandall. and how she went.
step by step and blindly, to the last
scene in the tragedy, when his vile.
ness, his true nature was revealed to
her. The girl had told her everything.
She had thought herself to be In love
with Wrandall She was carried away
by his protestations She was infatu-
ated. (Sara smiled to herself as she
spoke Of this. She knew Challis Wran-
dall's charmD The girl believed in
him implicitly. When he took her to
Burton's inn 1t was to make her his
wife, as she supposed. He had ar
ranged everything. Then came the
truth. She defended herself
i came upon her In the road on
that Wild night, Brandon, at the place
! pointed out. Can you picture her as
have described herr Can you pic
ture her despair, her hopelessness, her
miseryf ! have told you everything,
from beginning to end. You know how
she came to me. how prepared her
for the sacrifice, how she left me. l
have not written to her. / cannot. She
must hate me with all her soul. lust as
] have hated the Wrandalls, but with
greater reason, confess. She would
have given herself up to the law long
ago, II 1t had not been for exposing
me to the world as her defender, her
protector. She knew she was not NOR
ally guilty OF the crime OF murder. In
the beginning she was afraid. She
did not know our land, our laws. In
time she came to understand that she
was In no real peril. but then it was
too late. A confession would have
placed me in an impossible position.
You see, she thought of me all this
time. She loved me as no woman ever
loved another. Was not the wife
Of the man she had killed. and was
not ! the noblest Of all women in her
eyes? Godl And to think OF what 1
had planned for herr"
This was the end OF the story.
The words died away In a sort OF
whimpering wall. falling In with the
wind to be lost to his straining ears.
Her head dropped. her arms hung
Imply at her side.
For q long time he sat there in 81.
sanSs. looking out over the darkening
water. unwilling. unable indeed, to
speak His heart was full OF compass.
zion far haw