Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1915-02-16
CHAPTER IV-continued.

But she would not be denied. She
thrust it upon him and once his eyes
had fallen up it, they clung there,
she knew that Reuther's exquisite
countenance would plead for itself!
God seldom grants to such beauty so
lovely spirit. If the features them
selves failed to appeal, ertainly he
must feel the charm of an expression
which had already netted so many
hearts. Breathlessly she watched him,
and, as she watched, she noted the
heavy lines carved in his face By
thought and possibly by sorrow,
slowly relax and his eyes I'LL with
wistfdl tenderness.
Parents must learn to endure bit
terness. / have not been exempt my
self from such. Your child will not
die. You have years of mutual COM
partnership before you, while / have
nothing. And now let us end this in
terview, so painful to US both. You
have said"
NO." she broke in with sudden
vehemence, all the more startling from
the restraint in which she had held
herself up to this moment, IL have
not said have not begun to say
what seethes like a consuming fire in
my breast. / spoke of a miracle-will
you not listen, Judge? l am not wild;
/ am not unconscious of presumption.
/ am only in earnest, in deadly ear
A I'll &c
between these two may yet be
spanned. l see way"
What change was this to which she
had suddenly become witness? The
face which had not lost all its underly-
ing benignancy even when it looked
its coolest, had now become settled
and hard. His manner was absolutely
repellent as he broke in with the quick
disclaimer:
"But there is no way. What mir
acle could ever make your daughter,
lovely as she undoubtedly is, fitting
match for my son! None, madam, abb
solutely none. Such an alliance would
be monstrous; unnatural"
'Why?" The word came out boldly.
Because her father died the death
of criminal?"
The answer was equally blunt
Yes; a criminal over whose trial
his father presided as Judge"
Quick as flash, however, came the
retort
"A judge, however, who showed him
every consideration possible. | was
told at the time and have been as
sured by many since that you were
more than just to him in your rulings.
Judge Ostrander"-he had taken a
step toward the hall door; but he
paused at this utterance of his name
answer me this one question. Why
did you do this? You must have hated
him deeply-your feeling for Mr.. Eth
eridge was well known. Then why
such magnanlmity toward the man
who stood on trial for killing him."
Unaccustomed to be questioned,
though living in an atmosphere of con-
tinual yes and no, he stared at the
yelled features of one who so dared, as
II he found it hard to excuse such pre-
sumption. But he answered her new
ertheless, and with decided emphasis:
Possibly because his victim was
my friend and lifelong companion. A
judge fears his own prejudices."
Possibly; but you had another rea-
son, Judge; a reason which justified
you in your own eyes at the time and
which justifies you in mine now and
always. Am l not right? This is no
courtroom; the case is one of the past;
1t can never be reopened; the pris-
oner Is dead. Answer me, then, as one
sorrowing mortal replies to another,
hadn't you another reason?"
The judge, panoplied though he was
or thought he was, against all conceiv-
able attack. WINGED at this repetition
of a question he had hoped to ignore.
and in his anxiety to hide this involun-
tary betrayal of weakness allowed his
anger to have full vent, as he cried out
in no measured terms:
what is the meaning of all this ?
What are you after? Why are you
raking up these bygones, which only
make the present condition of affairs
darker and more hopeless? Oliver
Ostrander, under no circumstances
and by means of no sophistries, can
ever marry the daughter of John Sco-I
vile. / should think you would see
that for yourself"
But If John should be proved to
have suffered wrongfully? II he should
be shown to have been innocent?"
His rebuke was quick, instant. With
a force and earnestness which recalled
the courtroom he replied: