Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-06-20

una you, DOnalQ Porter i
hereby sentence to twenty years at
hard labor"
How clearly those words stayed in
his memory! It was all as though it
had happened yesterday. The murky.
smelly courtroom. the spectators, pleas
ure" bent. the newshounds of the great
dailics, the striving lawyers and the
purblind Judge He had never been
able TO decide from that day to this
whether the judge had been bought
and paid for" no. What did II mat
ter? The judge wasn't eleme ntally re-
sponsible How clearly he remembered
every fuctuation of his own distract
mind during that long trial. At first
he could do nothing but laugh at the
ahsurdtty of 1t all. 1t concerned him
at first only as a bothersome misunder-
standing that robbed him OF his preci-
Gus time. Then, as the trial went along
as false witnesses were introduced and
things fixed for his railroadinG to prison
and he left with sudden horror his near
ness TO punishment he didn't in the
least deserve. he had become panicky
at the g-ossncss OF the conspiracy
against him. So cleverly had Cole
looted the bank. SO carefully had he
trial. as though he tPorter) had looted
/, and made Cole. it's president. his in
nocent accomplice.
Cole AS he thought that name, tho
ugly subtle lines OF his face deepened,
and his fingers twitched ncrvously as
though yearning for that soft throat
they had once squeezed within their
grasp. The day Coles light sentence
had ended, and he had walked tauntily
amongst his fellow prisoners on hi.
way 10 freedom, the guards had to be
quick TO save that throat from those
yearnng fingers. He had almost had
him that time! Well he would get him.
He had told himself that time and time
again.
This thought. this unquenchable hate
FOR the man who had so tricked him,
"as the only thing that kept the life
III his poor emaciated frame-the one
thing that had enabled him to stand
the irightful routine OF prison life
these long. weary years 1t was no
wonder 10 Don Porter that he rcmem-
bered II all so clearly as he did The
whole thing had had n daily rehearsal
In his mind. and for years now he had
awakened each morning to a fresh real
ization OF the unspeakable horror OF
his position. and had gone TO bed each
his lips for the man who had so tricked
h!m-had so spoiled his life, and the
lives OF those few who had put their
faith In him. He had been very good
these past years. Oh. SO good-all but
that once. He had almost had him
that time! That thought always gave
him n moments brief. phatom pleasure
that always gave way again 70 despair:
despair that seemed duller. that the
moment before had been touched with
light. This despair was despair that
he should not live TO be revenged He
had made mad, insane attack on him
then. but the guard was too quick But
that was fully five years ago and he
had been good since then-good with
the goodness OF child who expects a
reward; patient with the patience OF
man who sees each day bring him
nearer 10 his hearts desire His
hearts desire,
1t seemed strange to him at odd
moments that he who had always been
gentle and sensitive. he who had al
ways felt an instructive kinship for
things gentle and sensitive. should now
have for his hearts desire the death
Of another man. And yet IL was 40
II was so. and he was jealousy glad
Of 1t. With the best years of his life
freedom after his release held forth
TO promise to him-no promise but
one. Had not the fulfillment Of that
promise seemed certain to him-had
not the one frightfully glad moment
that he would see Colo die at the
hands OF Don Porter. whom he had SO
wrong ed-had not this seemed fitting
and possible compensation for his in
juries, he would never have left that
prison alive-would have preferred
death to the suspicious world he would
have to face after those long years in
prison. But with the possibility, nay,
the probability of satisfying "his
hearts desire" before him. the cold.
suspicious. unsympa thetic world had
no terrors for him. He would not try
10 rehabilitate himself. He wanted no
favors Of it. He wanted but one
thing. and he was well able to get that
himself. He had sworn it TO himself.
He would get that one thing
That night, as usual he fell asleep
with the name Cole" framed on his
inarticulate lips and a curse for it in
his satiable spirit.
II.
Edith Hilton had arrived at her
twentieth year. 1t would be difficult
10 say how she had arrived at her
twentieth year. unless one might saw
she zigzagged to 1t. For Edith was
like most Of us, that queer admixture
of decision and hesitancy that set her
ever out OF the analyzable type" class,
selected and labeled, and ever made
her next act uncertain as was the
motive OF her last.
Continued To-Morrow)