The Pulaskian., 1920-07-15

1OBHCEus
 "What is it7" I asked, wonderingly.
 HYou've got a visitor"
 "Nyho?" I questioned eagerly. Could it, wondered, be Barbara? Had my sternly Fepressed longing to see her an some way communicated itself to her through the ether and impelled ner to throw caution to the winds and come to the prison to see me?
 ''I don't know" the keeper answer cd. "Its a man. I don't know who he is."
 A man. Who could it be? In all the monotonous time I had been be- hind the bars, only two men had come to see me. German and McGregor. It could not be either of them, for both were we'll known to the prison attend ants. As I hastened down the long corridor past the dismal row of barred doors, I was revolving iR my mind the possibilities of my callers identity.
 Who could 1t be? Spurred on by my curiosity, I hastened into the coun- sel room. There sat my great-uncIe Rufus.
 He looked in much better physical condition than when I had last seen kim, more vigorous and healthier. His skin was Drowned from exposure to the sun and wind, and his eyes were clearer and brighter. As I studied his face I could trace no vestige there of the terrible fear that had seemed to obsess him on the last occasion Of our meeting.
 For a moment we eyed each other without speaking. l vas wondering and well I think I might-whether the suspicious I had at times in regard to him had been wholly without foun- dation. Could 1t be possible that the crafty, miserly old chap was the mas ter mind at the bottom of all the mystery and plotting? As my previous suspicious came up in my mind l de .ermined to be wary in what I said to lMm. The fires of anger toward him began to kindle within me as Hooked at him. I felt that it was his fault that I was locked up here. Meanwhile he had been studying me. 44ltS hCCu Otu GJCo lletO ohl NNJOQ ihS from head to foot returning to rest fixedly on my face, as though he was crying to read my thoughts. I won- sdered what was passing in his Enind. Was he inwardly ehortling at the plight in which he found me? Was he distressed to see a blood-relative behind the bars? Did he believe that was guilty of the murder of Daisy Lutan? How had he learned of my arrest? What was his purpose in coming to see me? But hls expression was unfathomable, so far as I was concerned. W
 He was the first to speak.
 +sSo-you didn't do 1t, did you"
 s'Of course not" I retorted indig- nantly. Did you suspect that l was a murderer?"
 He shook his head disparagingly, smiling an inscrutable smile.
 "The evidence against you certainly looks convincing"
 "I don't care" I exclaimed with &eat I'm as innocent of the killing of Daisy Lutan as"--I hesitated-"as yeS are
 He nodded his head approvingly.
 'srhere, sthere, boy, don't get excited. Of course know you are Innocent. Sou'ro of the GaSton blood, and there aever was Il Gaston that was q mur- derer or a lawbreaker. I never sus- pected you for a stlgle second. I was off in the Maine woods twenty miles from a railroad. I didn't see a news paper until day before yesterday eve ming. My eye just happened to catch a paragraph about the Granddeck. 1t was about your trial for the murder of Miss Lutan being set for next week. That was the first I had heard about it. travelled all night to get to you"
 My feelings toward him underwent q sudden reyulsion. There was every The knowledge that he believed in me was the most welcome news 1 had heard since my incarceration.
 ssWell soon have you out of here" he went on, "now that I am here to help you. I got you into this, and I'll get you out of it if ii takes every cent I possess. There's more than one fight left in old Rufus yet Now start at the very beginning and tell me everything that has happened since I have been away"
 What a relief 1t was to talk freely With my mind once and for all clear ed of all suspicion toward my old great-uncle, I began my story. Some how tItc tie of blood is strong in time of troabie found 1t vastly easier to talk with my aged relative than it had been with either Gormau or my lawyer.
 I begun with my chance meetilss with Barbara Bradford in the park as the blackmailers awaited her there