The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1915-06-17
I'M TIL I'M
CHAPTER x.

ansrN r. L
"But God isn't going to judge you for
judged by men, before God gets a
chance to forgive you. God isn't going !
to hold this against you, SO why should
you give your fellow man a chance to
DO you harm? You're not guilty of muir
der, but-well. I guess you're beginning
to understand. I'm thinking for you
and for Mary. my boy, and I'm think
Ing hard. You car trust me. I will do
What is right and just, for I know what
these damned brutes of men do when
they get on. q jury, or when they. set
out to hound a fellow creature to his
grave. / am your judge. Eric. You are
the only witness I shall examine, and
l viii acquit you of all blame on your
own word. You may not sleep we'll to-
night, but tomorrow you will realize
that You did what could not be helped
and that the God you speak of took
away Chetwynd's life-God and a COM
munity that does not keep its bridges
In repair. Now, tell me slowly, care
fully, just what brought on the fight"
Eric told the story from beginning
to end, from the instant he saw Chef
wynd OF the bridge to his disappear
ance over the edge.
II couldn't stand it any longer when
ne said a about my sister. 1 just
a to fight. It was a fair fight, too
as fair as I know how. II watched
iAAAlSo w SCI IL tA11k VIZ.
taught me. I-well, that's ALL"
H deserved the licking" sale Adj
am, a grim smile on his lips. And I
won't say he didn't deserve the pun
ishment God gave him, too. He was
q rascal Erica nasty rascal. I can
tell you WHO that letter was from. 1t
was from a woman in New York. a
woman on whom he was spending thou
sands Of dollars that didn't belong to
him"
Didn't belong to him?"
Yes. l suppose you believed all that
private instruction rot. too, the same
as his father and mother did. Well, I've
got a few rare facts to lay before the
Blagdens."
Their was such utter vindictiveness
In his manner of speech that Eric
looked at him in wonder.
Oh. l don't profess love for your
fine ~Blagdens," said Adam gruffly.
Horace and I used to play together
when we were little chaps. Oswald
Bright was another of my playmates.
I was a poor sailorman's son; they
were of the elect. I knew your mother,
Eric, when she was a tiny little girl.
But our family left Corinth long before
she was In shoe top frocks, and I never
nor there. Nv never forgotten the
scurvy trick Horace played on me in
school. Somebody in our room was
stealing things from the desks of the
other scholars. Horace openly accused
me Of it. I was driven out in disgrace.
Not one of my old play1nates would
look at me, except Oswald Bright. BY
George, he was q great judge, even in
those days. He defended mo on all oc-
casions. and he-he pulled me out of
the water once when 1 actually tried
to drown myself because I was so un-
happy. He put new courage into me.
my father moved to Gloucester a
few months afterward, but one day Os-
wald wrote me a letter saying they had
caught the real thief in the act Of pill
range Of thefts. He was sent to the
house of correction and proved a bad lot
all the rest Of his life. But I never for
got Horace Blagden's charge against
me. Years passed before he grudgingly
apologtzed to me at Bright's suggestion
I don't mind saying I've never liked
your Uncle Horace, and that's putting
1t gently. Now my turn has come
He'll squirm when 1 tell him the name
of the man who got away with the
banks money a few months ago. II
will turn his hair greyer than it is
when he finds out for a certainty thai
it wasn't John Payson who took It."
tPayson? The teller who used tc
be -"
TN chetwynd's place" completed
taken out about the time Payson LEFT
the ban Your uncle sent for me. He
was determined Jack was the thief.
went to work. For weeks and week
I watched every move that fellow
made, not so much for the purpose O
finding him guilty to please Horace
Blagden, but to establish his innocence
to please myself. Payson was no more
guilty Of robbing that bank than 20,
are, and / was sure of 1t from the be-
ginning. Horace wouldn't have 1T SO
He insisted hat I keep after him. HI
said he'd get him if it took years
Well, I told him I'd find the thief,
didn't care how long it took. So
stuck to the case, chiefly to clear Jacl
Payson. His dad was my best frient
when we were boys, and ms mother i
one Of the finest women in the world
She's a widow now and Jack supports
her. Tomorrow I'm going up to Hor
ace Blagden's house to make q charg'
against the real thief"
Eric was leaning forward. staring a
the hard set face Of the speaker, II
eve wide with understanding.
ssYou don't acknowledgements" h
cried.
II do mean Chetwynd. He was tn
thief. 1 have positive proof. He tool
$1,000 out of sealed packages in tn
vault the second day after he went int
the bank to be instructed by Paysor
They kept these packages there TO
emergency cases, being a safe old Ne'
England bank, you know. his gri
was the quintessence OF irony. In
money was not missed for weeks, pu
as some smaller bills had disappeare
from the age just before Payson lef1
it was recalled, and suspicion fell O
him"
'Chetwynd stole all that money!"
He needed it," chuckled Adam re
f1ectiveIy. "It's an expensive luxury
keeping a girl in fine clothes, carriage
and champagne, let me tell you tina
He met her when he was in college
n she knew he was too good to ie
slip. So she hung on. She got mos
New York. and she laughed at hir
behind his back. I've had more tina
one friendly chat with her. and ~
drunk some Of his champagne, al
though he didn't know of it. ma
add that she looked on me as a nc
~ - e.e.a the 20 ureSf Sb