Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-10-24


you know. and the hint you gave me
of your trouble-dld the rest"
Then you knew-or you thought
l was a criminal?"
She nodded, and her gaze was rest
ing upon tue nearby gravel heaps.
Cousin AIDA wrote me. But that
made no difference. / 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"
Il suppose so; in some blind fash
Ion. But 1t is you who have set me
| free, Corona. Ii began that night In
Guthrieville when l stole one of your
gloves; ii wasn't anything you said;
/ 1t was what you so evidently believed
and lived. And out here: was sim
/ ply raw savage when you first saw
me. l had tumbled headlong into the
abyss of the new and the elemental,
and if l 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 / ever, n?"-with an
| almost wistful.
always. and with a wisdom that
/ makes me almost afraid of you. For
example, there was the night when
| 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 sayT
"How do we know anything?" she
/ inquired softly. 'The moment brings
/ it's own inspiration. 1t broke my
heart to see what you could be, and
/ TO think that you might not be it,
after ALL But / came out here this
morning to talk about something else.
What are you going to do when you
! are able TO leave Sunrise Gulch?"
1.-The one straightforward thing
! there is for me to do. l shall go back
to Lawrenceville and take my medi-
cine"
"And after that?"
THAT is for you to say. Corona.
1 Would you marry a convictT'
"You are not guilty"
THAT is neither here nor there. They
will probably send me to prison, just
the same, and the stigma will be mine
to wear for the remainder of my life.
l can wear it now. thank God But TO
/ pass il on to you-and TO your chill
dren. Corona If ] could get
my own consent to that, you couldn't
get yours"
Eyes, l could, John got it the first
| time cOlonel-daddy brought me out
here and let me see you. You were
out of your head. and you thought you
were talking to Billy Starbuck-in the
automobile on the night when you were
going with him to the fight at the dam.
1t made me go down on my two knees,
John, and kiss your poor, hot hands"
He slipped his one good arm around
her and drew her clos.
Now l can go back like a man and
fight it through to the end" he exulted
soberly. "Jibbey will take me; know
! he is wearing himself out trying TO
make me believe that he can wait, and
that Verda understands. though he
won't admit it. And when it is all
over. when they have done their worst
to me"
With quick little twist she broke
away from the encircling arm.
"John, dear" she said, and her voice
was trembling between a laugh and n
sob. I'm the wickedest, wicke dest
woman that ever lived and breathe1-
and the happiestl l knew what y5H
would do. but / couldn't resist the
temptation TO make you say it. Lis
ten: this morning colonel-daddy got a
! night-letter from Billy Starbuck. You
have been wondering why Billy never
came out here to see you--it was be-
cause he and Mr.. Stillings have been
in Lawrenceville, trying to clear you.
/ They are there now, and the wire says
that Watrous Durham has been arrest
ed and that he has broken down and
confessed. You are free man, John /;
you"
The grass-cropping pony had
widened its circle by a full yard and
| the westward-pointing shadows Of the
frs were growing shorter and more
clearly defined as the August sun
swung higher over the SUBMITS of the
eastern TimanyOnis. For the two on
the house bench. time, having all its in
terspaces filled with beatific sllences,
! had no measure that was worth record
! ing In one of the more coherent in
tervals 1t was the man who said.
"Some things in this world are very
wonderful, Corona. We call them hap
| penings. and try to account for them
as we may by the laws of chance. Was
/ it chance that threw us together at
your cousins house in GuthrieyiHe a
! year ago last June?"
She laughed happily. 81 suppose It
was-though I'd Ike TO be romantic
/ enough to believe that it wasn't"
'Debritt would say that it was the
/ Absolute Ego" he said half musingly.
4 "And who is Mr. Debrittf"
HE is the man I dined with on my
4 last evening in LawFenceville. lie had
/ been joking me about my various
little smugnesses-good job, good
clothes, easy life. and all that, and he
wound up by warning me to watch out
4 for the Absolute Ego"
what IS the Absolute EgoT she
asked dutifuIly.
John Montague Smith. with his curl