Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-01


What do you mean?" cried the old |
woman breathlessly, her set face
blanched.
II mean that from the beginning
Enid was right. / have begun to pay |
by making those / love suffer. / have |
brought sorrow to her. shall bring !
sorrow to you. God knows I am not |
blind to that. But can't help It now.
am going to San Francisco in the
morning. l am going into the district
attorneys Office and confess to every
life. And am going to take my medi-
cine and come out of it, IL It takes
twenty years, square! Squarei" he
repeated, the word ringing triumph
antly. :.
She fell back In her chair as though
he had struck her. a violent physical
blow. "You don't know what you are
saying, Robert" she exclaimed. ... ..
''But l do! Haven't I thought it
all out, over and over? And after all
it isn't case Of thinking. It's a mat
ter Of feeling, in here. Just to be
square, square with the whole world,
is the greatest thing in it.. Why. even
+, thief as j am, have always fooled
myself into thinking that / was playing
the game fair. l stole from the big
of the men with the lunch buckets. ]
didn't care about what the law might
have to say, but did try, in my way,
to play fair. And now I see that /
have been a little cheat and that l
have got to square myself. Polly did
it under the big wheels Of Ambrose's
machine. I'll do il in the penitentiary.
It's where belong until can look the
other fellow in the eye again. It's the
only way"
where you belong" she muttered,
''is in the mad house ~
He had expected this, more than half
hoped for it. II she would only rail
| at him, not plead with him, it would
be so much easier for him to hold to his
purpose. If she should seek to reason
with him he was ready for her argu
ments.
But, being Rachel Stetheril and none
other, she did none Of the things he had
considered possible. Their talk had be-
gun with her readiness to find Enid
Camden to blame for the boys unhap-
piness. 1t ended with the old woman
finding Enid guilty Of the crime Of
crimes of having sought to blot out
Roberts life in ignominy and shame.
So, not upon his head but upon Ends,
did she heap high her abuse.
''The ungrateful little beggar wench y
she cried throatily, rapping the table
noisily with her bony knuckles. 80
this is her doing, is it! Don't lie to
me, Robert Stetheril Ellis. l know all
about il. She's one of those puritani-
cal little hypocrites which God hates
worse than a snake. She won't marry
you because she's afraid Of what people
will say. And, so that no other girl
can have you, she'll have you shut up
in prison, She's confounded
Grandma - he interjected. "plcasc
''Oh, shut up" she cut him off.
Don't I know what girl with a
pretty face and an empty head can do?
She can do anything in God Almighty's s
world she wants to with a man and
make the fool think he's doing it him
self all the time. Who is she to preach
to you? II you're good enough for your
own flesh and blood you're good enough
tor such as she Is. But I'll show her .
I'll show her, l tell you. IN drive
her out of the valley, IN hound her
"But I tell you that Enid hasn't
even even suggested this Will you listen to
mo / won't! have listened to you
long enough. You are talking like a
crazy man. Let me talk. Let me tell
you that you can't do this thing, that it
lis sheer quixotic madness, driveling
lunacy, that I won't let you do it DO
you hear?"
IT hear" he answered, seeking to
speak quietly though his voice was
shaking. "And I anu sorry ~
"You had better think, Robert! I
have made my will. One million dollars
goes to Evelyn who is n little MIN
compoop but my grandniece; the rest
goes to you. You can have it in your
own name tomorrow II you want it. If
you want to play fair and get square
with the world you can go out and do
it in ten thousand ways that will be
sensible and that will do good.
But he shook his head.
You are wonderfully good to me,
grandma" no answered. "And / don't
know that am not mad. But, to
square myself, to pay of my own debt,
there Is just the one way. have heard
of a prince who retained a servant to
take his foggings for him, but have
never heard of its doing the prince or
the servant or anybody else any good. "
"Good?" she shifted. "And what
good is to come out of your getting
yourself shut up In Jail? Unless it's
! good to drag your name and mine, your
fathers and your mothers, through the
mud Unless it's good to wreck your
own life just when you're coming into
1t! Unless It's good to slap me in the
face with your senseless actions
Robert, you're sentimental fool"
IT rather think / am, grandma" he
said, seeking to smile and speak gently
But can't help It. You ask whai
good it will do? None, I suppose, fol
anybody In the world but me.
; "One half of the world that know,
me will say I'm crook the other vii
say I'm insane. And III know tha
I've done all that I can do to square
myself"
. Don't you think of any one bu
yourself?" she asked.
"Yes, I do. Otherwise / should hav,
, given myself up week ago. But
, can't help 1t. ] haven't the right t.
help it. 1 I've got to pay
grandma.
The flush had long ago gone out o.
his cheeks, something of the feverisl
glitter from his eye. He was DEATH,
pale, a feeling almost of physical nau'
, sea over him, like the emotion whicl
would ride a man forced TO the brutal
physical attack of one who had be-
, friended him and whom he loved. Blu
he was no less determined now than a