The Washington herald., 1914-06-03

letter in the pile happened to be on,
marked strictly personal and it wa!
plain that 1t was not a business com
| munication. Earle extracted the littl
slip inside. and suddenly his eyes be
came riveted to the few words writer
on IL.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL" was thu
message that stared at him In blacl
capital letters. His eyes were fixed L
II by the fascination of unreasoning hor
ror. Thou shalt not KILL" he repeated
and without knowing II he crumpled tbs
paper in his cold fingers He saw hi.
reflection in a mirror and shrank back
In few moments his face had turned q
sickly, greenish hue. He clutched at q
corner of the table to steady himself.
Stupid joker he muttered. Somebody
is trying to amuse himself" He plunged
into work, determined to forget the let
ter. But the mere task Of remaining al
the desk and running his eyes over re
ports and statements proved a physca
and mental torture. Letters and figures
blurred before his staring eyes and our
of the blur emerged the words, 'Thou
shalt not kill"
i've got to forget this crazy joke" he
told himself. ''or I'll wind up in the asy-
lum." He stepped to the corner saloon
and fortified himself with a drink. And
for the remainder Of the day he worked
feverishly, intent upon excluding the
haunting message from his mind
The trial opened the next day. and the
prosecuting attorney submitted a close
ly knit fabric of circumstantial evidence
with which he hoped to send Weber to
the gallows. From his seat in the rear
OF the courtroom Earle watched the pro-
ceedings. He gloated over the unsuc-
cessful efforts of the young and mex
perienced counsel for the defense to con-
ceal his misgivings smile curled his
thin lips as he listened.
Suddenly a paper was thrust into his
hand. He opened II mechanically and with
a queer premonition. His feyerish eyes
bored into the paper he had spread be-
fore him. II was crude drawing rep
resenting a man lying dead on the floor
OF the Office. over the body stopped a
man. revolver in hand, and Earle recog-
nized an uncouth resemblance to him
self. In corner of the paper was writ
ten, Thou shalt not kill"
Earle caught himself reading the
words aloud People in the courtroom
were staring at him. With a desperate
effort he jerked himself together and
staggered from the room, conscious that
a thousand eyes were watching HIM
With mind reeling and the blood pound
ing fercely at his temples. he walked
the streets for miles. constantly feeling
that he was pursued.
He dulled his mental agony with drink
and returned to the Office. Again he
shrank from his reflection in the mirror.
wondering how a man could change so
greatly so horibrly in few days. Though
Z. - I'll. l. n.1TNs sha
floor with the quick nervous tread Of a
hunted thing.
Then dawn crept into the room. a
CHASTITY, damning dawn that seemed to
reveal things he wanted to hide. A
boy laid a pack OF mail on his desk.
He stared at the pile of letters. and as
he stared it appeared TO bulge into
mountainous size. He reached out his
hand TO seize it. but reeled back. He
snatched a paper from the desk and
scanned n black headline. Tho jury
had retired and was expected TO reach
a verdict during the day.
With a maniacal fever in his eyes he
again turned to the pile of letters. The
little pack inspired him with violent.
unreasoning dread. yet it attracted him
with the sly enticement of a reptile.
He tossed aside the business letter and
searched until he found the one he
dreaded He tore it open. and with
shrek tumbled into his chair.
My God" he groaned. Not that.
Not
1t was another crude drawing. this
time rpresenting a hangman's moose.
He gibbered Historically as he stared
at the thing. Thou shalt not kill" he
read Thou shalt not -" he repeated,
and then something strangled the words.
He shrank, with all the intensity Of
fevcred mind from the courtroom scene,
but like a being controlled by a mightier
force than himself he found himself
drawn in that direction He wished to
take a seat In the rear, but a tormenting
something pushed him close to the rail-
ing beyond which the lawyers sat A
solemn little group Of men fled into the
room. Earle wondered whether he would
be able to hear or whether his thunder
Gus heart beats would drown the words.
A man was reading from a slip of paper:
I'VE. the jury, find Ben Weber, the
defendant, guilty of murder in
A shrek. an unearthly, piercing cry.
the reading. Earle had risen
to his feet, and the next moment he knew
that the awful cry had been wrung from
him. He found himself staring into the
ewes of a crippled old lady who had been
wheeled into the courtroom. He felt
that those eyes were penetrating hiden
depths, that they read his secret and
knew his guilt.
The judge pounded his gavel for order,
but Earle forced his way up to the front.
His face was turned from her, but he
felt that the crippled old lady was still
following him with eyes whose question
ing he should never forget. Then he
found himself speaking, and he felt as
II some one were whispering the words
in his ears.
This man is innocent" He shouted yet
could scarcely hear his own voice. Il
am the guilty one. I had come to the
office that night to rob the safe. A girl
one who knew a secret that would have
ruined me-had blackmailed me. and 1
needed the money. l had barely opened
the safe when my partner stepped into
the room I scarcely know how it hap
pened. / saw a revolver lying on the
table. ] shot-I killed him.
He beat his hands against his face as
IL to exclude a vision. A woman was
weeping joyously in the arms of a man.
little crippled cid lady was saying
something about the victory of mind. but
none except Earle understood what she
meant.
Copyright. isai. hg HsnB Barrett chanheziiaJ