Middletown transcript., 1915-05-15

the voice of Algernon Etheridge, de-
manding vengeance for his untimely
end. 1t will not be gainsaid. Not sat
isfied with the toll we have both paid
in these years Of suffering and repres-
sion-unmindfu of the hermit's life l
have led and Of the heart disapp0int-
mDnts you have borne, its cry for pun
ishment remains insistent. Gentlemen
hush! Oliver, it is for me to cry
Don't nOw-John Scoville was a
guilty mana murderer ana thief
but he did not WELD the stick which
killed Algernon Etheridge. Another
hand raised that. No, do not look at
the boy. He is innocent! Look here!
look here!" And with one awful ges-
ture, he stood still-while horror rose
like a wave and engulfed the room
choking back breath and speech from
every living soul there, and making a
silence more awful than any sound
or so they all felt, till his voice rose
again and they heard:
you have trusted to appearances;
you must trust now to my word.
am the guilty man, not Scoville, and
not Oliver, though oliver may have
been il the ravine that night and even
handled the bludgeon found at my
feet in the recesses Of Dark Hollow"
Then CONSERVATION spoke, and NUT
tered cries were heard of Madness!
L. is not we who are needed here but
physician!" and dominating all, the
ringing shout:
You cannot save me SO, father.
hated Etheridge and l slew him. Gen
tlemen," he prayed in his agony, COM
ing close into their midst, do not be
misled for a moment by fathers de-
votion."
drew every look. Honor confronted
them in a countenance from which all
reserve had melted away. No guilt
showed there; he stood among them, a
heroic figure.
Slowly, and with a dread which no
man might measure, the glances which
had just devoured his young but virile
countenance passed to that of the IA
ther. They did not leave it again.
SOM" With what tenderness he
spoke, but with what ring of desola-
tion. II understand your effort and
appreciate it; but it is a useless one.
You cannot deceive these friends Of
ours-men who have known my life.
If you were il the ravine that night,
so was /. If you handled John SEQ
ville's stick. so did l, and after you!
Let us not struggle for the execration
Of mankind; let 1t fall where it right
fully belongs. 1t can bring no sting
keener than that to which my breast
has long been subject. Or" and
here his tones sank, in last recogni-
tion of all he was losing forever, IF
there is suffering in a once proud man
fiinging from him the last rag of re-
spect with which he sought to cover
the hideous nakedness of an unsuspect-
ed crime, it is lost in the Joy of do
ing justice to the son who would take
advantage of circumstances to assume
his fathers guilt"
But oliver, with fire which moth
ing could damp, spoke up again:
Gentlemen, will you see my IA
ther so degrade himself? He has dwelt
so continually upon the knowledge
which separated us dozen years ago
that he no longer can discriminate be-
tween the guilty and the innocent.
Would he have sat in court; would he
have uttered sentences; would he
have kept his seat upon the bench for
all these years, If he had borne with
in his breast this secret of personal
guilt? No. It is not in human nature
to play such a part. was guilty-and
l fed. Let the act speak for Itself
The respect cue my father must not
be taken from him"
Confusion and counter-confusion {!
What were they to think! Alanson
Black, aghast at this dread dilemma,
ran over in his mind all that had led
him to accept divers guilt as proved,
and then, in immediate opposition to
it, the details Of that old trial and the
judges consequent life; and, voicing
the helpless confusion of the others,
observed with forced firmness:
I'VE have heard much of divers
wanderings ia the ravine on that fatal
night. but nothing of yours, Judge Os-
trander. 1t is not enough for you to
say that you were there; you must
prove it."
"The proof is in my succumbing to
the shock of hearing divers name as
sociated with this crime. Had he been
>guilty-had our separation come
through his crime and not through
my own, l should have been prepared
for such a contingency, and not over
whelmed by it."
"And were you not prepared?"
mo, before God!'