The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1915-09-24

! So
-AEw 70 al0neT
"Qaits alone. tatAshI Mrs scuysiIs
Ii huay and Reasfas-- IRsinther Ii IN
the F0stfn ADORE. caH hear her light
step Overhead
The isdse was silent. He was Ear.
Ing wkRfully ~ the wall where hung
the portrait Of his young wife. He vas
no longer In hil room. but IN the
cherry front parior. This Deborah had
insisted upoa There was. therefore.
nothing to distract him from tho con
temptation have mentioned.
There are things | vant TO san 70
ron. Not many: you already know my
story. But I do not know yoarn. and
I cannot die tiiI do. What took you
into the rayina that evening. Oliver.
and WHY, having picked up the stick.
did yeg fing It from you and fiy back
TO the highway For the reason !
aseribsd to scovilief Tell nae. that
no cloud may remain between Ms Let
ne know your heart as well AZ you
now know mine"
The reply brought the blood back
into his fading cheek.
Father. I have already explained
all this to Mr.. Andrews. aud now I will
explain II to you. | never liked Mr,
Etheridge ~ well as Fou did. and !
hrooded incessantly IN these days
over the influence which be seemed to
exert over you In regard TO my future
career But | never s.reamed Of do
ing him q harm, and never supposed
that l could 30 much AZ attempt any
argument with him on my own behalf
till that very night Of internal compiL
cations and Condolences. The cause
OF this change was ~ follows: bad
gone upstairs. you remember leaving
you alone with him "a knew you do.
sired. How ! came TO be In the room
above I don't remember, but I was
there and leaning out OF the window
directly over the porch when you and
Mr.. Etheridge came out and stood In
some final debate on the steps be.
low He was talking and you were lis
tening. and never shall | forget the ef'
feet his words and tones had upon me
| had supposed him devoted TO you,
and here be was addressing you tartly
and In an ungracious manner which
bespoke a man very different from the
one had been taught to look upon "a
superior. The awe OF years yielded
before this display. and finding him
just human like the rest OF US. the
courage which had always lacked In
approaching him took instant posses-
sion of me, and I determined with
boys unreasoning impulse to subject
him to a personal appeal not TO add
his influence TO the alstaste you al
present felt for the career upon which
/ had set my heart. Nothing could
have been more foolish and nothing
more natural. perhaps. than the act
W hich followed. ran down into the
rsvins with the wild intention. SO
duplicated in yourself few
minutes later. OF meeting and pleading
my cause with him at the bridge. but
unlike you. took the middle OF the
ravine for my road and not the se'
cluded path at the side. II was this
which determined our fate. father. for
here I saw the stick and. catching II
m without further thought than OF the
facility II offered for whiting. started
with Il down the ravine. Scoville was
not In sight. The moment was the
,ne when he had quit looking for Reu'
Iher and wandered away up the ra'
vine. I have thought since that per
haps the glimpse he had got Of his IT.
lie one peering from the scene OF his
crime may have stirred even his guilty
CON science and sert him on on his
purposeiess ramble; bat. however this
vas, I did not see him or anybody
Else a. I took my way leisurely down
towards the bridge. whiting at the
stick and th!nking Of what Il should,
,ay to Mr.. Etheridge when met him.
And now for fate's final and most fatal
ouch! Nothing which came into my
mind struck me quite favorsbly. The
encounter which seemed such q very
simple matter when FIRST contem'
plated II. began TO assume quite a dit
'erent aspect az the moment for II ap-
BY the time | had come
abreast OF the hollow, ! was tired OF
he whole business. and hearing his
v histle and knowing by II that he was
,ery near. I plunged up the slope to
avoid him, and hurried straight away
nto town. That 10 my story. father.
Z | heard your steps approaching as ]
plunged across the path into which
lad thrown the stick In my anger at
,avins broken the point OF my knife
,lade upon Il. thought nothing OF
hem then. Afterwards I believed
hem to be Scoville's. which may &C.
~rrt to vou for my silence about this
whols matter both before and during
he trial was afraid OF the witness
Itand and of what might be ELECTED
rom me II once got into the hands Of
he lawyera My abominahle reticeace
n regard 10 his former crime would
,e brought up against me, and ! was
90 young. too shy and unilformed to |
ace such an ordeal Of my own yoii |
lon. unhappily. was not forced into |
/, and But We will not talk OF that, !
ather,-
ssSsnr So t,,vr eyiav,a hal sv,t~~