Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-08-29

she was innocent of the only crime /
could lay at her feet. Now 1 come
to the crime of which I stand self
accused. 1 must have been mad all
these months. I have no other defense
to offer You may take 1t as you see
it for yourselves / do not ask for
pardon. After 1 deliberately had set
about to shield this unhappy girl-to
cheat the law, If you please-to cheat
you, perhaps conceived the horrible
thought to ayenge myself for all the
indignities 1 had sustained at the
hands of you Wrandalls, and at the
same time to even my account with
the one woman whom could put my
finger upon as having robbed me of
my husbands love. You see / put 1t
mildly 1 have hated all of you, Mrs.
Wrandan, even as you have hated me.
Today-now-I do not feel as did in
other days toward you. 1 do not love
you, still do not hate you. 1 do not
forgive you. and yet l think 1 have
come to see things from your point
of view. 1 can only repeat that ]
do not hate you as / once did"
She paused. The Wrandalls were
too deeply submerged in horror to
speak. They merely stared at her as
| If stupefied; as GREATNESS, as motion
less as stones.
There came day when observed
that Leslie was attracted by the guest
in my house. On that day the plan
took root in my brain. /"
Good Cod" fell from Leslie's lips.
"You-you had that in mind?"
at became a fixed. infiexible pur-
pose, Leslie. Not that I hated you
as 1 hated the rest. for you tried to
| be considerate. The one grudge held
against you was that in seeking to sus-
| tain me you DETAINED your own brother.
| You came to me with stories of his
| mtsdeeds; you said that he was a
! scoundrel and that you would not
| blame me for showing him up Do
you not remember? And SO my plot
| involved you; you were the only one
through whom 1 could strike. There
were times when 1 faltered. l could
not bear the thought of sacrificing
Hetty Castleton, nor was 1t easy to
thoroughly appease my conscience in
respect to you. Still, If 1 could have
had my way few months ago. if
coercion had been of any avail, you
| would now be the husband of your
| know that she was not what 1 had
thought she was. She was honest.
| My bubble burst. 1 came out of the
maze in which 1 had been living and
| saw clearly that what / had contem-
plated was the most atrocious-"
"Atrocious 2" cried Mrs. Redmond
Wrandall between her set teeth. -"Dia-
bolicall Diabolical! My God, Sara,
| what a devil you" She did not COM
| plete the sentence, but sank back in
her chair and stared with wide, horror
struck eyes at her rigid daughter-in-
law
Her husband, his hand shaking as
If with palsy, pointed a finger at Het-
ty. And so you are the one we have
been hunting for all these months,
Miss Castletoni You are the one we
want. You who have sat at our table,
you who have smiled in our faces
stop, Mr.. Wrandall," commanded
Sara, noting the ashen face of the girl
Don't let the fact escape you that !
am the guilty person. Don't forget
that she owed her freedom, If not her
life to me. / alone kept her from
giving herself up to the law. All that
has transpired since that night in
March must be placed to my account
Hetty Castleton has been my prisoner
She has rebelled a thousand times and
l have conquered-not by threats but
by Lowell Do you understand? Be
cause of her love for me, and because
she believed that l loved her, she sub
mitted. You are not to accuse her
Mr.. Wrandan- Accuse mel l am or
; trial here Hetty Castleton is wit
, ness against me, if you choose to cal
upon her as such. If not, 1 shall ash
; her to speak in my defense, il she car
, do So"
J This is lunacy," cried Mr. Wran
dali, coming to his feet. Il don't car,
r what your motives may have been
/ They do not make her any less muir
deress. She
! we must give her over to the 20
; lice" began his wife, struggling t.
her feet. She staggered. 1t wa.
Booth who stepped quickly to her sid
r to support her. Leslie was staring a
Hetty
: Vivian touched her fathers arm
) She was very pale but vastly NOR,
composed than the others.
e Father, listen to me-, she said He
: voice trembled in spite of ner effor
D to control 1t. I'VE are condemnini
Miss Castleton unheard- Let US hea
A ! everything before We
: Good God Vivian, Do you meal
to-"
i How can We place any reliance OF
e what she may say?" cried Mrs WraI