Williams news., 1916-05-04

n uldu' ulS uOy NH ildh Olcclc took him in her motherly arms and sobbed over him. In the end the bank president agreed to give him another chance.
 Months passed Charley did not drink now, but he had become strange ly furtive in his manner. Something ailed him. He was unfagging in his attention; he was always the first to arrive at the bank, and the last to leave. He had thrown out obscure hints of wealth to come.
 This scene faded. Miriam was con- scious of the awful Death Angel at the bedside, it's weapon poised, it's face turned inquiringly toward her.
 She saw herself in black, kneeling, sobbing at the bank presidents feet. Other men were there, with hard, un- sympathetic faces. Charley was there. white, and wearing a look of bravado.
 She knew what had happened. He had been caught hundred miles away, in the metropolis, after a three weeks
 chase, with half of the purloined twen- ty thousand dollars still unspent Give him another chance" she pleaded.
 "He has had his chance" the presi- dent answered coldly. Now he must have justice" He advanced and put his hand on Miriam's shoulder. See
 where he stands, impenitent," he said, | pointing toward the boy. Only prison | sentence will avail to set him right
 with men,"
 Miriam rose, her face set in agony, her mothers heart yearning toward ! the boy, in spite of his bravado Then | she was aware that her husband stood at her side.
 "He is right, Miriam" he said. "It
 was our own indulgence that brought | him to where he stands. He must pay | his debt to man."
 The scene changed. Miriam Steele
 was aware of long lapse of time. She | looked up, to see a man of thirty, bro- ken, prematurely old, emerge from the gates of a prison. Haggard, sneering, scornful, and hard of heart, this was her boy.
 She seemed to watch him during that long railroad journey back to She little town. She saw him pause before the house. A harsh-faced woman came out-out of her own home-and
 mocked him.
 Get out, you jail-bird!" Miriam
 heard her say, and her own heart
 swelled with bitterness. Then she was | aware that she herself stood at Char. ley's side, comforting him, and that he could neither see her nor feel her presence.
 She turned away with the boy, walk ing at his side until they reached the little cemetery upon the hill. She entered with the boy, and presently | headstone. On it she read her hus- bands name-and hers. She gasped; and then she was aware
 that the vision lasted, and that the Angel of Death still stood at the beds
 head. Beneath the sweep of the wide | wings she could see her husband, | seated, still holding Charley's hand,
 and the child, lying just as he had lain. Then came a final scene. She saw her boy lying, white-haired, in a bed in a pauper ward of a hospital. She
 seemed now to read his heart. She l saw the tardy penitence for the folly,
 the grief, the sorrow that the earthly
 pilgrimage had brought him. And over
 the vision thunderSd the voice of the Death Angel.
 "Choose!" 1t seemed to say. You have prayed as few women have | prayed, as few mothers have prayed, | and because the kingdom of heaven is taken by violence, it has been revealed
 to you to know the inscrutable mean ing of Gods actions. Choose now, be- | tween life and deathi" Miriam Steele raised her head and answered. You say the kingdom is taken by violence" she answered. "Well, will
 take it. I do not believe these pic lures. I know that man is gifted with free will, and that no memorable fate
 can lie in wait to trap my boy. know that if his heart is right, and if he
 is treated rightly. he will grow up to be good man. What you have shown
 me is a warning, not prophecy; it is a lesson, not an memorable doom.
 choose, and I choose life; and I will
 save our boy against all the terrors
 of life and all the promptings of the
 Evil One."
 In the dread silence that followed
 the face of the angel seemed to as-
 sume a majestic benignancy. He turned and she saw a slow, pitying
 smile cross his face.
 Tt is possible. But 1t is hard" he seemed to say.
 What is mother worth if she can not guard her own?" answered Miriam Steele. "Begone! I choose life for our child, and I will make that life what it should be-"
 She saw the angel lower his sword moment, and the grim shadow van ished from the room. Then, out of blank upcQnsciousness Miriam Steele