The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1915-01-14

49, N'AJ 80 a
could lay at her feet. Now | come
to the crime Of which / stand self
accused. l must have been mad all
these months. | have no other defense
to offer. You may take t as you see
1t for yourselves. | do not ask for
pardon. After | deliberately had set
about to shield this unhappy girl-to
cheat the law, II you please-to cheat
you, perhaps-I conceived the horrible
thought to aVenge myself for all the
i~ndignities | had sustained at the
hands of you Wrandalls, and at the
same time to even my account with
the n whom l could put my
finger upon as having robbed me of
my husbands love. You see | put it
mildly. | have hated all Of you, Mrs.
Wrandall, even as you have hated me.
Ioday-now-I do not feel as | did In
other days toward you. / do 0 love
you, still i SC not hate you. | do not
forgive you, and yet think | have
come to see things from your point
Of view. | a only -epaat that ]
do not hate you az | once did"
She paused. The Wrandalls were
too deeply submerged in horror to
speak. They merely stared at her as
If stupetied; as breathless, as motion
less as stones.
There came a day when | observed
that Leslie was attracted by the guest
IN my house. On that day the plan
took root in my brain. l."
Good Cod" fell from Leslie's lips.
"You-you had that in mind?"
1T became a fixed, infexible pur-
pose, Leslie. Rot that | hated you
as l hated the rest. for you tried to
be considerate. The one grudge | held
against you was that In seeking to sus-
tain me you DETAINED your own brother.
You came to me with stories of his
misdeeds; you said that he was a
scoundrel and that you would not
blame me for showing him up Do
you not remember? And so my plot
involved you; you were the only one
through whom | could strike. There
were times when | faltered. | could
not bear the thought of sacrificing
IlCIIy NdoblClOu, llOl was IL easy "
thoroughly appease my conscience in
respect to you. Still, If | could have
had my way a few months ago, If
coercion had been OF any avail, you
would now be the husband Of your
brothers slayer. Then ] came to
thought she was. She was honest.
My bubble burst. ! came out of the
maze in which / had been living and
saw clearly that what had contem-
plated was the most a~trocious-"
"Atrocious?" cried Mrs. Redmond
Wrandall between her set teeth. 'Dia-
bolical! Diabolical! My God, Sara,
what a devil you" She did not COM
plete the sentence, but sank back in
her chair and stared with wide, horror
struck eyes at her rigid daughter-in-
law.
Her husband, his hand Shaking as
II with palsy, pointed a finger at Het-
ty. And so you are the one we have
been hunting for all these months,
Miss Castleton! You are the one we
want! You who have sat at our table,
you who have smiled in. our faces"
stop, Mr.. Wrandall!" commanded
Sara, noting the ashen face of the girl.
Don't let the fact escape you that |
am the guilty person. Don't forget
that she owed her freedom, IL not her
life to me. | alone kept her from
giving herself up to the law. All that
has transpired since that night In
March must be placed to my account.
Hetty Castleton has been my prisoner.
She has rebelled a thousand times and
| have conquered-not by threats but
by love! Do you understand? Be-
cause Of her love for me, and because
she believed that | loved her, she sub
mitted. You are not to accuse her,
Mr.. Wrandall. Accuse me! | am on
trial here. Hetty Castleton is a wit
ness against me. II you choose to call
upon her as such. If not, | shall ask
her to speak in my defense, if she can
do So"
This is lunacy!" cried Mr.. Wran-
dali. coming to his feet. II don't ARE
what your motives may have been
They do not make her any less a muir
deress. She"
I'VE must give her over to the po-
lice" began his wife, struggling to
her feet. She staggered. 1t was
Booth who stepped quickly to her side
to support her Leslie was staring at
Hetty.
Vivian touched her fathers arm.
She was very pale but vastly more
composed than the others.
Father. listen to me-" she said. Her
voice trembled In spite OF ner effort
to control It. I'VE are c~ondemning
Miss Castleton unheard. Let us hear
everything before we"
Good God. Vivian! Do you NEAR
to-"
How a we place any reliance on
what she may say?" cried Mrs. Wran-
dali.
Nevertheless" said Vivian firmly,
Il for one shall not condemn her un-
heard. / mean to be as fair to her as
Sara has been. II shall o be said
that all the Wrandalls are smaller
than Sara Gooch!"
MY child began her father in
credulously. His jaw dropped sud
denly. His daughters shot had landed
squarely In the heart OF the wrandall
pride.