Williams news., 1915-06-17

years. She was going to enter the room which had been barred from pub lie sight by poor Bela's dying body.
 The great room before her pre- sented a bare floor, whereas on her first visit it had been very decently, if not carefully, covered by huge car pet rug The judges chair, which had once looked immovable, had been dragged forward into such position that he could keep his own eye on the bedroom door. Manifestly she was not to be allowed to pursue her duties un- watched. Certainly she had to take more than one look at the everyday implements she carried to retain that balance of judgment which should pre- vent her from becoming the dupe or | her own expectations.
 q do not expect you to clean up here as thoroughly as you have your own rooms upstairs" he remarked, as she passed him. And, Mrs. Scoville,' he called out as she slipped through the doorway, 'leave the door open and keep away as much as possible rom the side of the room where l nave nailed up the curtain. I had rather | not have that touched"
 | Not touch the curtain! Why, that was the one thing in the room she wanted to touch; for in it she not only saw the carpet which had been taken up from the floor, but a possible screen behind which anything might ] lurk-even his redoubtable secret.
 There is no window" she observed,
 looking back at the judge.
 "No," was his short reply.
 Slowly she set down her pail. One
 thing was settled. It was Bela's cot
 she saw before her-a cot without any
 sheets. These had been left behind
 in the dead negro's room, and the
 judge had been sleeping just as she
 had feared, wrapped in a rug and with
 uncovered pillow. This pillow was his
 own; it had not been brought down
 with the bed. She hastily slipped a
 cover on it, and without calling any
 further attention to her act, began
 to make up the bed.
 Conscious that the papers he made
 feint of reading were but cover for
 his watchfulness, she moved about in
 a matter-of-fact way and did not spare
 him the clouds of dust which presently
 rose before her broom. But the judge was impervious to discomfort. He
 coughed and shook his head, but did not budge an inch. Before she had begun to put things in order the clock tJ struck the half-hour.
 "Oh!" she protested, with a plead | ing glance his way, "Im not half done."
 l "There's another day to follow" he ; remarked, rising and taking a key l from his pocket.
 3 The act expressed his wishes; and 9 he was proceeding to carry out hel 8 things when a quick, sliding noise j. from the wall she was passing drew l her attention and caSsed her to spring
 forward in an involuntary effort tC f catch a picture which had slipped its n cord and was falling to the floor s A shout from the judge of "Stan( aside, let me come!" reached her tot V late. She had grasped and lifted tn, Il picture and seen
 e But first let me explain. This pic IT ture was not like the others hangin, n about. It was a yelled one. Fron l, some motive of precaution or charac IT teristic desire for concealment on tn d part of the judge, it had been closel d wrapped about in heavy brown pape e before being hung, and in the encouI d. ter which ensued between the fallin f. picture and the spear of an imag If standing on the table underneath, thi
 paper had received a slit throug 10 which Deborah had been given glimpse of the canvas beneath. "a The shock of what she saw woul a have unnerved less courageou o. woman.
 It was a highly finished portrait ( 10 Oliver in his youth, with broad ban ,d of black painted directly across tn BIS eyes.
 Id In recalling this startling mome1 ed Deborah wondered as much at her ow ct aplomb as at that of Judge Ostra ,w der. Not only had she succeeded of expressing all recognition of wh; as had thus been discovered to her, bl ,n. had carried her powers of self-repre er sion so far as to offer, and with goo ito grace, too to assist him in rehangi1 he the picture. This perfection of ac ma ing had it's full reward. With equ
 composure he excused her from tl zee task, and, adding some expression ge regret at his well-known carelessne en in not looking better after his effect aid bowed her from the room with only ,- slight increase of his usual courteo or reserve.
 But later, when thought came a ou, with it certain recollections, what s me nificance the incident acquired in b my mind, and what long line of terrc age it brought in its train!
 It was no casual act, this defaci de- of a sons well-loved features. It h the a meaning-a dark and despers l 4 h l.