Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1920-04-17

of furious helplessness. aud brought
back billiard TO his senses
/ "Ies," said billiard, "he had plenty
to be sorry for. and he was. or his
troubles here. I'm not capable of sit
| ting SIS Judge. Instead, / sat as con
| fesSOr. So that you'll! be more inter
| eSted in that part OF his life which
| you evidently haven't known about.
and l have lie left here. ] think. in
! December, He hadn't any fixed pur-
| pose; all re wanted was To find a
| place where he could begin over again
on a fresh basis, and make man OF
| himself. For that much, at
least, you can give him credit"
And do" said Cullen. approvingly.
billiard, swept again by the near
ness Of deliverance from his deceits,
leaned forward. A strong Endorsement
Of Morgans ambition ut this juncture
might yet have brought about a re-
| cantation.
I'm glad you do. Mr.. Cullen
| think myself it was the only course
| he could have taken" He hung peril
ously upon the response: It would Ell
| Their justify or condemn his present
attitude
That's probably why he took it,"
said Mr.. Cullen. oh. I'm fair enough
TO him. Mr., billiard, but as for iudg-
ment-" He shook his head firmly.
what made him 90 to France?"
Hilliard sat back. The gates of
truth changed shut.
THAT came 10 HIM as the logical
course" be said shortly He'd met
with some brother adVenturers In New
York, and they put the idea into his
head. He had no money, so that he
worked his passage across on the
Mouette, "A French tramp. in January.
1919. On the other side he met
lieutenant of artillery who took a
| fancy 70 him. As YOU undoubtedly
| know. he spoke French like a native.
and that made it cas- J''for him. France
is land of papers. and of records
and papers and records can he Great
ed shutiled-When there's a reason.
The reason was that republic need
ed men-and the lieutenant was will
ing to he forger II that were a con
ditton to his being patriot. His con
ception of patriotism was to enlist ev-
cry ablehodied man IN the service of
France. But AT that time. the war
was still rather exclusive as far rs
Americans were concerned So that
Eg.L-r
and there was a new soldier of the
sixty ninth Territorials by the name
OF Pierre Dutout Peter No
body"
WHAT" said Mr.. Cullen.
Hilliard shrugged his shoulders.
~ said he told me much about him
self. He sailed under his own mime
and | dare say YOU can verify that
in New York But when he landed
he took an alias, He had wanted to
start over again. uphampered Moth
ing could have been more oppormne
than this chance. See what it gave
him He simply dropped out of the
world. Il was the possibility
of losing himself utterly thar first APP
peaIed to him. And there must have
been a good cause
yes" said Mr. Cullen absenHy.
"There was. But always the
atrical Dick was. That was 50 Ike
hhn--to do Just that sort of thing, and
10 do it just that way"
LAS nearly as | could gather" said
u
or ostracized here. Is
that correct%' He noted that Angela
fiinched at the suggestion, and thar
her head was dropping very low.
Wees, hut there was good rea-
son for it,"
oh dad" said Angola. Dleadngly.
below her breath. please don't say
things Like that--I can't stand any
more"
"What his offense may have been.
| don't know" said billiard, plun2-
ing doggedIy into his narrative. But
he left town. so he told me in
tremendous Revision of feeling. His
one ambition was TO make something
Of himself to wash out the past to
justify his existence. And he went
overseas with the idea 81 genuine
service and sacrifice. And very soou.
terribly soon during q night
attack they got him" Hi
lard paused effectively. There
wasn't a chance in a hundred for him
to recover and he knew it. And then
it came to him. DIndingly and dcspei-
ately, that the Word-that is, the
world which had known him in his
failures-wouId never hear what he
had done. He had made his sacri-
fee. and II was useless. In hospital,
he was Pierre Dutout, you see .
and between that character. and his
own, was the barrier Of the subter-
fuge he had grasped so eagerly-bis
alias and his false record No one
would have any reason to doubt that
he wasn't what he purported to be
He craved to tell someone; 10 send
back a message to his Old friends
and ! happened to be there-aud he
al