The Monroe journal., 1915-07-16

after your letter reaches New Or.
leans; you needn't doubt that. And
the suppression Of your name isn't
cowardly; it is merely justifiable bit
of self.protection. 1t is your duty to
give the alarm; but when you have
done that, your responsibility ceases.
There are plenty of people who can
identify me If | am taken back to
New Orleans. You don't want to be
summoned as witness, and you
needn't be-"
She saw the direct, manlike wisdom
of all this, and was quick to appreci.
ate his delicate tact in effacing the
question of the reward without even
referring to it. But his stoicism was
almost appalling.
1T Is very shocking!" she muir.
INJURED; "only you don't seem to real.
ize II at ALL"
Don't |? You must remember that
! have been arguing from your point
Of view. My own is quite unchanged.
1t is your duty to do what you must
do; II is my affair to avert the conse.
quences to myself IL can manage it
without taking an unfair advantage of
your frankness.
: What will you do?"
t 1T would be bad faith now for me
to try to run away from the steamer,
as meant to do. So far, you have
bound me by your candor. But be.
yond that | make no promises. My
parole will be at an end when the Off.
GERS appear, and shall do what can
to dodge, or to escape IL | am taken.
Is that fair?"
1T is more than fair; can't under
stand"
What is it that you can't under
stand?
How you can do this; how you can
do such things as the one you did last
night, and still"
He finished the sentence for her
"and still be common robber of
banks, and the like. | fancy 1t Is a
bit puzzling-from your point of view.
Sometime, perhaps, we shall all I'M
derstand things better than we do
now, but to that time. and beyond it,
l shall be your grateful debtor for what
you have done tonight. May | go
now?"
She gave him leave, and when he
was gone, she went to her stateroom
to write as he had suggested. An hour
later she gave the newly written letter
to the night clerk; and the thing was
done.
In the ordinary course Of things,
Miss Farnham's letter should have
reached New Orleans in time to have
procured Griswold's arrest at any one
Of a score Of landings south Of Mem
phis. When the spires of the Ten
nessee metropolis disappeared to the
southwark, he began to think that her
resolution had failed.
He had no means of knowing that
she had given her letter to the night
clerk within the hour OF their inter.
view on the saloon deck promenade;
nor did he. or anyone else, know that
II had lain unnoticed and overlooked
on the clerks desk until the Belle
Julie reached Cairo. Such, however
was the pregnant fact; and to this
purely accidental delay Griswold owed
his first sight of the chief city OF Mis-
souri, lying dim and shadowy under its
mantle of coal smoke.
The Belle Julie made her landing In
the early evening, and Charlotte was
busy up to, the last moment getting
her own and her aunt's belongings
ready for the transfer to the upper
river steamer on which they we're to
complete their journey to Minnesota
Hence, 1t was not until the Belle Julie
was edging her way up to the stone
paved levee that Charlotte broke her
self-imposed rule and slipped out upon
the port promenade
The swing stage was poised in the
air ready to be lowered, and two Of
the deckhands we're dropping from
the shore end 10 trail the bovine W