The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1915-08-20
CHAPTER XVIl-Continued.

s,ronce but left it to Mr.. Black to do
!. bonors and make the best of a sit
zion difficult, if not inexplicable to
y If them. Nor could it be seen that
- n these men-city officials, promi-
mi citizens and old friends, recog-
lied his figure or suspected his
sanity Beyond a passing glance his
SOW they betrayed neither curiosity
y interest, being probably sufficient
: occupied In accounting for their
.yn presence in the home Of their
.,ce revered and now greatly ma
sned compeer. Judge Ostrander, at
,,eked through his son, was about to
~ or do something which each and
.,sry one Of them secretly thought
I'D better be left unsaid or undone.
vi none showed any disposition to
lave the place; and when, after a
short uneasy pause during which all
,Hempts at conversation failed, they
hoard a slow and weighty step ap-
woaching down the hall, the suspense
vas such that no one but Mr.. Black
1dlced the quick whirl with which
Oliver turned himself about, nor the
iook Of mortal anguish with which he
awaited the opening of the door and
his fathers entrance among them. No
one noticed, say, until, simultaneous
N with the appearance of Judge Os-
tander on the threshold, loud cry
swept through the room of Don't!
DON'T" and the man they had barely
noticed, flashed by them all, and fell
At the Judges feet with a smothered
repetition Of his appeal: Don't, IA
aheF. DON'T"
Then, each man knew why he had
been summoned there, and knowing,
nzed earnestly at these two faces.
Twelve years of unappeased longing,
Of Smothered love, rising above doubts,
HrsiSting in spite of doubts, were con-
eantrated into that one instant of mu.
tual recognition. The eye Of the IA
ther was upon that of the son and that
81 the son upon that of the father and
for them, ct least in this first instant
Of reunion, the years were forgotten
and sin, sorrow and on-coming doom
efaced from their mutual conscious
ness.
Then the tide of life flowed back into
the present. and the Judge, motioning
to his son to rise, observed very dis
tinctly:
Don't is an ambiguous word, my
son, and on your lips, at this junCture
may mislead those whom l have called
here to hear the truth from us and the
truth only. You have heard what hap
pened here a few days ago. How g
longguarded, long-suppressed suspi
cion-sO guarded and so suppressed
that | had no intimation of its ex
istence even, found vent at a moment
Of public Indignation, and | heard you
you, Oliver 0strander, accused to m!
lace Of having in some boyish fit o
rage struck down the man for whose
death another has long since paid thu
penalty This you have already beer
told"
Yes" The word cut sharpl,
through the silence; but the fire will
which the young man rose and face
hem all showed him at his best. "Bu
surely, no person present believes il
No one can who knows you and tn
principles in which have been raised
This fellow whom beat as boy ha
waited long to start this damnable re
port Surely he will get no hearini
rom unprejudiced and intelligen
men"
The police have listened to hin
Mr. Andrews, who is one of the ger
temen present, has heard his stor
and you see that he stands here silent
my son. And that is not all. Mrs
ScoVille, who has loved you like
mother, longs to believe in your innt
eence. and cannot"
A low cry from the hall
It died away UNDECIDED.
And Mr.. Black, her husbands cour
SELL continued the father, in the firm
low tones of one who for many lon
days and nights had schooled himse
ior the duty for this hour, shares he
feeling He has tried not to; but
does, They have found evidences-yo
Know them; proofs which might nj
nave amounted to much had it M
neen for the one mischieyous fat
which has undermined public cont
Nence and given point to these attack
refer to the life we have led and th
barriers we have ourselves raise
against our mutual intercourse. Thes
cave undone US. To the question, VIII
.nese barriers? l can find no answt
,eut the one which ends this struggl
oaceumbing myself, ! ask you to do s
a'so, Out of the past comes a voice
Ae voice Of Algernon Etheridge, d
handing vengeance for his untime
sna It will not be gainsaid. Not SO
sued with the toll we have both pa
= these years of suffering and repre-
son--unmindful of the hermit's life
uase led and of the heart disapnoir