The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-08-24

| the subject upon her, she made no Sc
| cret to Shurtliff of her devotion to the
| younger Meade, her sorrow that he had
made such declaration, and her de-
termination to wait for him. She was
| always careful to end every conversa-
ton by saying that she knew her out
look was perfectly hopeless and that
she could expect nothing except sor-
row until the younger Meade was re-
habilitated. She so cOntrived matters,
while constantly affirming her feeling
for Meade, as to let Shurtliff infer
that she was convinced that he had
been telling the truth in what he had
said.
After time she deftly appealed to
him to know If he could not help her
discover the truth she tactfully main
tanned even in face of the evidence that
Shurtliff had given. And she did this
in such an adroit way that Shurtliff
became convinced that she did not con-
meet him with any willful deception,
and that she believed that he was de-
luded himself and occupied the posi-
ton of an innocent abettor. And Shurt-
lift, in his strange, old, self-cOntained
way, finally grew to like Helen Hing
worth exceedingly. Indeed he started
In his work with natural antagonism
to Colonel Illingworth, and when he
sensed, as he very soon did, the diff
ference that had arisen between father
| and daughter, he eSpoused the cause Of
the latter. He was the kind of a man
who had to devote himself to some
body. He began to wonder if there
was any way to secure the girls hap
piness without betraying the elder
Meade.
She comprised the secretary, who
was, of course, old enough to be her
father, with sweet observances and he
found it increasingly hard to keep true
to his falsehood. Now she was cap
able of fascinating bigger personalities
than Shurtliff, although she cared lit
tie for that power and rarely exercised
1t. The old man actually got to think
ing of her as daughter. Sometimes
when they had an hour together he
found himself seconding her arguments
for the innocence Of the younger
Meade, for she had progressed that far
by now, with little details which his
knowledge and experience of the two
men could supply. Trifling in them
selves as were these contributions, as
Rodney pointed out when she repeated
them to him, they nevertheless added
something to the cumulative force of
the argument so laboriously built up
by the friend and woman. And they
were decidedly indicative of q growing
mental condition on the part of Shurt-
lift from which much might be hoped
and expected.
But Shurtliff could not bring him
self to come out boldly and confess,
and his failure to do that made him
more and more miserable. At first his
conscience had been entirely clear. He
had viewed his conduct in the light of
q noble sacrifice for the great man.
Now he began to question:: Was it
right to blast the future of the living
for the sake of the fame of the dead?
Probably he would have questioned
that eventually without regard to
Helen nlingworth, but when he began
to grow fond Of the woman and when
he realized, as she Enthusiastically dis
closed it to him, that her own happi-
ness was engaged and that he was not
only running the career of man but
wrecking the life and crushing the
heart of an entirely innocent woman,
he had a constant battle royal with