Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-08-02
Rns saws 1s,Fss made pss. 80

, Tie says you've ahds maa of
him that you saved his life when you
had every reason not TO. You never
told me that. John"
mo; I didn't mean to tell anyone.
But to think of his coming out here
to nurse me, leaving Verda on the
night he married her! A brother of
my own blood wouldn't have done it"
The young woman was looking up
with a shrewd little smile. Maybe
the blood brother would do even that,
if you had just made it possible for
him to marry the girl he'd set his
heart on, john
'Piftle!" growled the man. And
then: Hasn't the time come when
you can tell me a little more about
what happened to me after the doctor
put me to sleep that night at the
DAMP"
Eyes. The only reason you haven't
been told was because we didn't want
you TO worry; we wanted you to have
a chance to get well and strong again
The mans eyes filled suddenly, and
he took no shame. He was still shaky
enough in nerve and muscle to ex-
cuse it. Nobody ever had such
friends, Corona" he said. you all
knew I'd have to go back to Lawrence
vile and fight it out, and you didn't
want me to go handicapped and half
dead. But how did they come to let
you take me away? I've known Mac
auley ever since I was in Knockers. He
is not the man to take any chances"
The young woman's laugh was
soundless. "Mr. Macauley wasn't
asked. He thinks you are dead" she
said.
What"
''It's so. You were not the only one
| wounded in the fight at the dam.
There were two others-two Of
MGraw's men. Three days later, just
as cOlOnel-daddy and Billy Starbuck
| were getting ready to steal you away,
one of the others died. In some way
| the report got out that you were the
one who died, and that made every
| thing quite easy. The report has never
| been contradicted, and when Mr..
Macauley reached Brewster the police
people told him that he was too late"
"GOod heavens! Does everybody in
Brewster think I'm dead?"
Nearly everybody. But you needn't
| look so Mortified. You're not dead
| you know; and there were no obitu-
aries in the newspapers, or anything
like that"
The man got upon his feet rather
| unsteadiIy.
"That's the limit" he said defni-
lively. I'm a man now, Corona; too
much Of a man, hope, to hide behind
another mans grave. I'm going back
to Brewster, today"
The young woman made a quaint
little grimace at him. "How are you
going to get there?" she asked. cts
twenty miles, and the walking is aw-
| fully bad-in spots"
"But I must go. Can't you see
what everybody will say of me?-that
I was too cowardly to face the music
when my time came? Nobody will be-
| lieve that I wasn't a consenting party
| to this hide-away"
"Sit down." she commanded calmly;
and when he obeyed: From day to
| day, since I began coming out here,
! John, I've been trying to rediscOver
| the man whom I met just once, one
evening over a year ago, at Cousin
Adda's house in Guthrieville: I can't
| find him-he's gone"
ognized meF'
''Not at first. But after a while
things began to come back and what
you told me-about Miss RichIander,
| you know, and the hint you gave me
of your trouble-did the rest"
"Then you knew-or you thought
I was a criminal?"
She nodded, and her gaze was rest
| ing upon the nearby gravel heaps.
cousin AIDA wrote me. But that
made no difference. I didn't know
| whether you had done the things they
said you had, or not. What [ did
know was that you had broken your
shackles in some way and were try
ing to get free. You were, weren't
| yOu?"
| 81 suppose so; in some blind fash
lon. But it is you who have set me
| free, Corona It began that night in
| Guthrieville when l stole one Of your
| gloves; it wasn't anything you said;
it was what you SO evidently believed
| and lived. And out here: I was SIM
ply a raw savage when you first saw
me- I had tumbled headlong into the
| abyss of the new and the elemental,
and if I am trying to scramble Out
now on the side of honor and clean
| manhood, it is chiefly because you
| have shown me the way"
"When did I ever, John?'-With an
up-glance of the gray eyes that was
| almost wistful.
always, and with a wisdom that
makes me almost afraid Of you. For
| example, there was the night when I
was fairly on the edge of letting Jib
| hey stay in the mine and go mad if
he wanted to: you dashed me with the
| one word that made me save his life
| instead of taking it. How did you
| know that was the one word TO S9v2'