Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-03-18

ting rs judge. Instead. l 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 / have. lie left here. / think. in
December. He hadn't any fixed pur-
pose; all he wanted was To- find a
plAce where he could begin over again
on fresh basis, and make a man of
himself. For that much, at
least, You can give him credit"
and l do" said Cullen, apprOyingly.
billiard, swept again by the near
ness of deliverance from his deceits,
leaned forward. 4 strong Endorsement
Of Morgan's ambition at this juncture
might yet have brought about a re-
| cantatiOn.
I'm glad you do. Mr.. Cullen. g.
/ 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.. Hilliard, but as for judg-
ment-" He shook his head firmly.
"What made him so to France"
billiard sat back. The gates of
truth changed shut
"That came to him as the logical
course" he said shortly. He'd met
with some brother adventures in New
York, and they put the idea into his
head. He had no money, so that he
worked his passage across on the
M61ette, a Frehch tramp, in January,
1915. On the other side, he met a
lieutenant of artillery who took
fancy to him. As you undoubtedly
know, he spoke French like native,
and that made it easy for him. France
is a land of papers, and of records:
and papers and records can be Great
ed, shuffled--when there's reason.
The reason was that a republic need
ed men--and the lieutenant was will
ing to be a forger If that were CON
dition to his being a patriot. His con-
ception Of patriotism was to enlist ey-
cry able-bodied man III the service of !
France. But at that time, the war !
was still rather exclusive as far as |
Americans were concerned. so that !
Dicky Morgan disappeared from earth !
and there was new soldier of the |
sixty-ninth Territorials by the name
of Pierre Dutout +. Peter No
body"
what" said Mr.. Cullen.
billiard shrugged his shoulders.
II said he told me much about him
self. He sailed under his own name,
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, unhampered. Moth
ing could have been more opportune
than this chance. See what it gave
hip He simply dropped out of the,
world. 1t was the possibility
Of losing himself utterly that first APP
Dealed to him. And there must have
1een good cause"
Yes" said Mr.. Cullen absently.
There was. But always the
ltrical, Dick was. That was so like
lim--to do just that sort of thing, and
o do it just that way"
AS nearly as l could gather" said
she had been practically
j. er ostraCiZed here. Is
hat eorrect?" He noted that Angela
linched at the suggestion, and that ,
Ter head was dropping very low.
"Y-e-e-s, but there was good rea- 7
on for it." I
"Oh dad !" said Angela, pleadingly, :
Glow her breath. "Please don't say :
Iings Hike that can't stand any
lore" f
f.What his offense may have been, /
don't know" said billiard, plung- g
lg doggedly into his narrative. "But t
G left town, so he told me, in a h
.emendous revulsion of feeling. His Y
ne ambition was to make something q
himself, to wash out the past-to h
lstify his existence. And he went |,
verseas with the idea of genuine h
,rvice and sacrifice. And very soon, il
,rribly soon during a night n
tack 1. they got him" Hill q
lrd paused effectively. "There f;
asn't chance in Il hundred for him 81
recover, and he knew it, And then
came to him, blindingly and desper- II
ely. that the world-that is, the 81
orld which had known him in his III
never hear what he le
Id done. He had made his sacri- W
e. and 1t was useless. In hospital, ~
was Pierre Dutout, you see
ID between that character, and his 10
IN, was the barrier of the subter- I'll
sc he had grasped so eagerly-his II,
las, and his false record. No one cr
,ud have any reason to doubt that q,
wasn't what he purported to be. ot
} craved to tell someone; to send he
ok a message to his old friends; n
d | happened to be there--and he W,
nfided In me. And here am, Mr.. 10,
lien. Bringing credentials. Now,
the first place, | have a photograph in
him, taken from his original pass IN
TT" He produced 1t from his peck
and offered it TO Mr. Cullen. rs ca,
at no 4. -. |