Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-03-20
The
Miracle;
Man
ERANKL.
PACKARD
cspyrisht. 1915,
~ Frank L. Packard.
ERANK,L..
PACKARD
cspyrisht, 1915
~ Frank 1. Packard.

ct the part he had played, frantic,
honorable eagerness to be rid OF It
There were these others. too, who look
ed to him the Flopper and Pale Face
Harry-and there was Helena Helena!
He did not dare to look at the misery
In her face again; he was unnamed
enough now.
And then Helena spoke.
'It--it seems" she said in low,
broken way, "as i-as If God dfd not
want to pardon us-as II our repentance
had come too late and that there was
NO eleventh hour for u.s." Then, in
passionate pleading, facing Madison:
God cannot mean that It Is we who
cannot see. There Il some way out
there must be; there must ber'
ut begins and ends with the Patri-
arch" said Madison monotonously.
I'VE can't sacrifice him, can VET
z what's the use Of going over it again?
1t all comes back to tho same point
. the Patriarch"
YES; yes;,I know, know" sbe said
piteously. Y But think, Doc-think!
4 See, fnowAwe Just send back all the
money and Jewels. We know to whom
they belong" S
"Well, what reason do we giver'
Madison said heavily. "The Patriarch
u alive and well. The immediate
corollary is that from the moment We
do that, tomorrow morning, for In.
stance. every gift every Offering here,
Is suddenly refused. What reason do
we give? Every newspaper in the land
would ask-why7 And they would not
be scontent with simply asking Why.
This thing ii too big for that-too
much before the peoples eyes-too
good copy They'd start In to md
out, and the result Is inevitable Our
safety so far has lain III the fact that
there has been no suspicion aroused.
They'd have US uncovered quicker than
like to think about 1t, and that
peans"- et a
He stopped and with hurried mo-
don carried his hands across his eyes
Helena. pure - one Of Gods own an
geh. now. b come to chat, to come to-
II Was the Hopper who completed
the sentence. !.
'Ten spaces up Dc Iiver," said The
Fldpper and shivsred, and his tongue
sought his lips, ''of bbe-nabbe
twenty" 81
Rals Feee HAIRY stf1rrsd pps9sily. .. ! &
ThSrsS IT, other Way. ! 70 I'D
without looking ups his eyes On his In
eer nail that trscsd ths grain Of tn
wood again. sect the money and the
sparklers an done up and addressed
TO the ones they came from. send 'em
on in q bunch to Thornton, and We
Ay the coop before he gets them-dis-
appear, fade away-and take our
chances Of getting caught"
."An' den it's al OF wild me an
Mamie" The Flopper's face grew
hard INK on DAFT Dat don't go!' 4
I'VE cannot do that Harry" said
Helena in. tired voice. There is
the Patriarch"
"Yes." And Madison began his stride
up and down tho room again. after
MI, whether we could give back the
money without being caught or wheth-
er We couldn't u not the vital thing.
There is-the Patriarch"
Helena's eyes were ~ the silent .ng-
ure in thy shadowA BY the fireplace.
III III Il were not for him." she said,
II think that perhaps perhaps !
might b brave enough to confess It
all and-and not try to escape from
the punishment I deserve But hs
T would know. He cannot see nor hear
nor speak, but hs would know-as he
seems 20 strangely, 80 wonderfully, SO
systematically to know and under
stand everything. And, oh, he means
10 much to me, to VI all, for 1t is he
more than any one else who has saved
us from from what we were. And he
loves us. It would shatter his faith,
ruin ali that his life has meant to him,
and--and We cannot bring him grief
and sorrow Ike that, Oh, what can
We do? What can we do7
We. cannot stop-and we cannot 90
on! We cannot stay here, even IL we
returned the money successfully, and
we cannot stay here II We keeplit rs
: It is. for things would stu have to 60
on % they are, even IL we didn't mean
10 steal any more, no matter what We
might ray " do, for, it's beyond our
control now, and to stay means that
We should still have to lead our double
lives, still have to practice hypocrisy
sand deceit, Ind and cannot-we can
not do that any more And the only
way~to get away from It al Is to run
away-and We can't do that either,
There is-the Patriarch. We cannot
leave him-to break his heart with
none he loves to care for him. We
can't do that. He Is very old, old
man, and--and I. think he has been
happy with MS. and-and we must
make him happy always as long as he
lives We cannot 90 away and leave
him. We can't do that" Then in a
.heartbroken, despairing cry. Dear
Cod. we can't do anything"
No one answered her. She had beg
red Madison to 60 over it all again.
and she had summed itfsup herself.
And there was always the same out
come the Patriarch.
There was utter silence in the room
now, save only for that low, solemn
1 boom Of distant surf, for Madison had
sytopped his nervous pacing up and
\ down and stood b$ the Patriarch's
armchair casing into the fireplace. -
ssls ~. vnSnutoa r,asscd and the Silence