The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1915-10-21

and laugh in his face. Ars you glad
or sorry?"
His answer was the answer Of the
man who was, for the time being, nei-
ther the moralist nor the criminal.
With a swift outreaching he drew her
to him, crushed her in his arms, Gov
cred her face with kisses.
81 am glad-glad that l am your
lover" he whispered, passionately
God, girl! but yod are a woman to die
for! No, not yet'-when she would
have slipped out of his arms-believe,
me, Margery; there has never been
anyone else-not for a moment. But
l thought it was Raymer, and for your
sake and his / could have stepped
aside. That is the one decent thing
l have done In all this deVilish busi-
ness. Are you listening"
She had stopped struggling, and was
hiding her face on his shoulder. He
felt her quick little nod and went on.
"Since you knoW the one decent
thing, you must know an the horrible
things. too. A dozen times have been
a murderer In heart"
She looked up quickly.
mo, boy, I'll never believe that
never!"
Wait" he said. ut was there this
evening-just little while ago. Miss
Farnham and Galbraith were not the
only ones l had to fear; there was an
other; the teller who got here from
New Orleans on the seven-forty-ive
train. You didn't know about him, did
you? He came, and an old newspaper
friend of mine was with him.
stumbled upon them on the sidewalk
in front of the Winnebago house; and
Broffin was there, too. We were intro
duced, the teller and l, and Broff1n was
so sure he had me that he got his
handouts out and was opening them
Margery shuddered and hid her face
again. "And IL didn't know!" she
gasped.
Luck was with me again" he con
tinued. johnson didn't remember
me: refused to do so even wher
Broffin stopped him and tried to tel
him who l was. l had a pistol II
nv pocket, and it was aimed at Brot1n
If he had made a move to take me
l should. certainly have killed him.
She sat up suddenly.
"Give me that pistol, Kenneth-giV'
it to me now!"
81 can't" he confessed, shamefaced
ly. "When it was all over, l smashed
the pistol with stone and threw
away"
She drew a long breath. "Is tha
all?" she asked.
"All but one thing; the worst O
them all that day in the ban
vault"
The daughter of men buried her fac
on his shoulder again at that. Don't!
she begged. "You couldn't help i
boy; l made you do it-meaning tt
There! and l said that wild horse
should never drag it out of mel"
Again he said, wait" and covere
the shining head on his shoulder wit
a caressing hand. ut wasn't low
then, little girl; that's what 1t breaA
my heart to tell you-it was just mat
ness. And it wasn't clean; you'v
got to know that, too."
She nodded hdr head violently.
know" she murfnured; II knew 1t {
the time, and that was what mad
me cry. But now it's-it's diferen
isn't it, boy? now you-are-"
"You have heard it all, Marger
You know what l thought / was, an
what l have turned out to be. Il
afraid am just common crook, aft'
all: there doesn't seem to be stan
ing room anywhere else for me. B'
every living fiber of me, the good ar
the bad, loves you-loves you'll"
what do care for anything else
. she flashed back. "You are you, ke
meth, dear; that is all know, and
| care for. If you had stolen all Il
; money in the world, and had killed
;, dozen men to make your getaway.
,, would be just the same. Only
"Only what?" he demanded jealousl
ut would be just the same to m
: but-but. Oh, boy, dear!
will never, never be the same to you
Z "I-I don't understand" he sta
mered.
; Some day you will. You call yo'
n self crook-man, man! there Isl
O a crooked drop of blood in you! Dol
= l know? You persuaded yourself tn
you had a right to take this none
: perhaps you did have; I don't 8
! YOU didn't. When l see anything
!, want. reach out and take it, II can
# and guess most, people would, II tn
~ dared. But you are different; you q
- good. Some day all these dreadi
y things that have come tagging alo
>. after the fact will rise up and gna
their teeth at you and tell you that
= was a sin, a crime And then
boy. dear! then l shall lose you'll"
Is Very gently he took her in his ar
,r again: and for time all things 81
IA sible and tangible, the deserted dri
n way, and the plashing of the lit
w waves on the sands, the staring mo-
Ia light and the stenciled shadows OF
70 oaks, were forgotten in the great SO
healing silence that wrapped tn
n. about and enveloped them.
~ fTo BE CONTINUED.)
~ Surely Prize scarecrow
~ -. 4ou~ie+ hod haen hos