Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1915-09-09
CHAPTER xvill-Continusd.


eide must have ended the struggle II
which was engaged, had not thii
knowledge Of actual and UNPUBLISHED
crime come to ease my conscience
John Scoville was worthy OF death
and. being so, should receive the full
reward OF his deed. need hesitate
no longer.
That night l slept, But there came
. night when | did not After the pen.
atty had been paid and to most men e
eyes that episode was over. turned
the FIRST page of that volume OF slow
retribution which is the doom Of the
man who sins from impulse, and has
the recoil OF his own nature to face
relentlessly to the end OF his days.
ecoville was In his grave. was alive.
6coville had shot a man for his money.
! had struck q man down in my wrath.
Scoville's widow and little child must
face cold and unsympathetic world,
with small means and disgrace rising.
like a wall. between them and social
sympathy. II not between them and
the actual means of living.
divers future faced him untouched
No shadow lay across his path to hin.
der his happiness or to mar his
chances
The results were unequal began
TO see them SO. and feel the gnawing
OF that deathless worm whose raw.
ages lay waste the breast, while hand
And hratr fulflI hai 81 u-Ark
as though all were we'll and the foun-
dations of life mistaken.
| suffered as only towards suffer
held on to honor: held on to home:
l held on to Oliver. but with misery
for my companion and self-contempt
which nothing could abate. Each time
l mounted the bench felt tug at
my arm as Of a visible. restraining
presence. Each time returned to my
home and met the clear eye OF Oliver
oeaming upon me with it's ever-grow-
Ing promise Of future comradeship. I
experienced q rebellion against my
own happiness which opened my eyes
to my own nature and Its inevitable
demand. | must give up Oliver, or
Yield my honors, make a full confes
sion and accept whatever conse-
ouences 1t might bring am proud
man. and the latter alternative was be-
yond me. | could forego pleasure,
travel. social intercourse. and even
ahe companionship OF the one being in
whom all my hopes centered. but |
sS6ptI ~
from the Judges bench to the telon's
sell. There struck the immoyable-
the impossible.
decided In one awful night OF re-
out OF my life.
The next day I told him abruptly
. hurting him to spare myself =
that had decided after long and ma
ture thought to yield to his desire for
Journalism, and that would start him
In his career and maintain him In It
for three years II he would subscribe
TO the following conditions:
They were the hardest loving IA.
ther ever imposed upon a dutiful and
loving son.
First, he was to leave home immedi-
ately within a few hours, In
fact
Second. he was to regard all rela
lions between US as finished we we're
to be strangers henceforth In every
particular save that of the money OBJ
legation already mentioned.
Third. he was never to acknowledge
this compact, or to cast any slur upon
the father whose reasons for this ap-
parantly unnatural conduct were quite
disconnected with any fault OF his or
any desire to punish or reprove.
Fourth. he was to pray for his "a
ther every night OF his life before he
slept.
Was this last q confession? Had
meant II to be such1 II so. It missed
Its point 1t awed but did not frighten
him.
had to contend with his compunc-
lions. az well A. with grief and dis
may. It was an hour Of struggle on
his part and Of implacable resolution
on mine. Nothing but such hardness
on my part would have served me.
Had I fa'tersd once he would have
won me over. and the tale OF my sleep !
less nights hssn repeated. | did not |
faiter. and when the midnight stroke
rang through the house that night |
Il separated By its peal . sin beclouded |
but human past from q future arid |
with solitude and bereft OF the one |
possession to retain which my sin had |
been hidden
became q father without q son-as
lonely and a. desolats a. though the /
separation between Us were that OF i
lie grave had msrited and so weakly
stunned.
But I was not yet satisfied. How
could I insure for myself the extreme
Dunishmeat which my peace demand
-. without bringing down upon me
tie full consequences I refused to
accspt
You have seen how I ultimate
b answered this question. A eonvict's