Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-03-24

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to his office and managed to get in. He
was in the vault, l shut the vault door.
Then / rummaged through his desk; got
all the notes l could lay my hands on
and came away
OH gasped Mary.
Then" pursued June, "the same
strange impulse made me scribble on
one of his cards on the desk an order
to his chauffeur. | made him take me
! away in Mr.. Grants car. | knew if /
went on foot I might be traced
"Oh, my dear. My dear" moaned
| the Mortified old woman. And you did
all this? You, the sweet, honest little
girl l."
Yes" sobbed June, Isn't it horri-
BILE? ] can't understand it any more
than you can, now that the mania has
left me. 1t is as though some stranger
had done it, ] can't realize it was /.
| Why, / stole-I led forged, June
Travis, who have always been so in
| tolerant when l heard of other people
being tempted to do such things. Mary!
Tell me; what am ! to do?'
Her voice broke i'm wall. She Sob
bed uncontrollably on her nurses breast.
The old woman, dumfounded, grief
| stricken, sought nevertheless to calm
| her as best she could.
1--WE must never tell anyone decreed
Mary at last Not a soul on earth. We
must keep it a secret, just between us
two. I'd give my life, dearie, sooner
| than let any harm come TO you. Ana 1t
shan't. Mary'll protect her little girl.
| But if other folks should suspect
And" broke in June, Il haven't told
you the worst part of it, yet"
Isis there more?' quivered Mary.
"Oh, don't say there's worse yet
A reassuring pressure of the arms
that held her so closely was the only
reply June received-or desired. The
girl slipped to the floor and, kneeling
there, her face against Marys breast,
she told her story.
1T began just the other day. she
whispered All in a flash. You re-
member. | told you about my going to
the prison with mother, the day Circle
Jim Borden was released-and the way
he repulsed me when / spoke to him?'
Yes! Yes" assented Mary, her lined
face paling and an unaccountable shud-
der convulsing her slender old body. Il
remember"
"Wny do you culver like that, Nary"
asked the girl And when / first told
you about meeting Borden at the prison
your face went CHASTITY | asked you
why, and you wouldn't tell me- Did you
ever know him Or
mo! No indeed dsclaimed the
nurse. "Of course, l didn't What
foolish idea."
Then, why
"Oh, I don't know. dearie. Perhaps
because / nate to think of folks being
sent to jail, like he was. Go on
with your story. l want to know all
about"
well" resumed June, Just few
hours after left the prison, all at
once l had the strangest sensation. 1t
seemed to start i'm my brain and go all
over me. 1t was as if something had
snapped i'm my soul | can't explain
it, And the strangest impulses came
surging through my mind. II felt
like a criminaE"
'Dearie!" gf.
II did ] felt as a criminal must feel.
] felt a craving to commit crime; dove
for its perils. a nideous crafty wit at
escaping the laws punishment. II was
lit was ~
Little girl! Little girl Soothed
Mary, as a sob choked June's .hushed
voice. That's nothing. It's Just bad
nerves. most likely, Instead of going
to dances and all such gay doings, the
way other pretty girls do, you've been
spending too much time visiting poor
folks and reading those nasty prison
reports and helping Jail birds and
such like. It's gotten on your mind
till you're all rum down; and you've
begun to feel like a criminal your
self. It's the same way with me every
time ] read patent medicine advertise
mont; begin thinking I've got all the
symptoms the advertisement tells
about. And yet all the time I'm no
more an invalid than youre-than
you're a criminal!'
Il am cTiminal!'
June spoke the words very quietly and
with no trace of emotion. But her sweet
voice was dead and in her big dark eyes
was an utter hopelessness that it wrung
Mary's soft old heart to see.
There is, June returned. That day
that day when / felt something snap
in my soul, I felt a burning sensation
on the back of my right hand I looked
and-on, it has come. and gone, there.
off and on, ever since! 1t is like some
hidous birthmark. 1t isn't there this
morning, but"
She looked at the back of her hand
as she spoke; and cried aloud in sud
den despair
Its there again." she wept. "Seeo
And I had hoped it mad gone away for
ever? ...
She held up her right hand. On it's
snowy surface glowed a crimson ring,
! like an evil star. AT sight of it, Mary
sprang to her feet in mortal fright
the Red Circler babbled the old
woman, her voice hoarse and indis-
tinct with horror THE Red Circle!
After all these years! The Red Circle!
| Oh, God. help us! God help us all. The
| curse. The Red Circle"
Continued In Next Issus.)