Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1921-01-06


me
You had me fooled" he. said. Il
really thought you didn't know"
Il did not know" | said
Didn't your" he exclaimed. You
are here TO see Richard DObsOn. fol-
lowed my bunch. | have the answer
To the thing. I know why this man
Sidney never was younger than twenty
years. You are here TO see Richard
Dobson because you are representing
Arthur Dobson."
ARTHUR Dobson Is dead.-
Il know he is-aS a name; but he
Is alive as Sidney"
MIR. Sidney Ia dead" ! said. "We
have come here TO tell Richard Dob
son that he can go free. did not
know who Arthur Dobson was until
last night"
AS Morgan stood before us on the
penitentiary steps. thought how true
had been my conception OF him as
the inevitable. Mr.. Sidney had out
played fate, but It was by using the
trump card death.
MOrgan's face showed some unpleaS-
ant lines.
what do you mean, that Sidney is
deadT' he asked.
HE died Christmas night. read
his diary last night. Jed gave II to
me. II is the one Dravada tried TO
steal. We came here at once to tell
Richard Dobson."
LET his brother Arthur tell him.
Richard is dead" said Morgan, going
on down the steps. "But l am not
through with you people. Publicity Is
just as good now as 1t was before"
He got into an automobile, and was
driven away.
Something always happens to these
moral consciences," said Jed savage
ly. You'll learn life some day. young
fellow. Now keep your mouth shut
inside here"
The warden told US that Richard
DobsOn had died the night before. He
had sustained a great shock the night
he walked out Of the penitentiary ant
was found on Mr.. Sidney's grounds.
The adventure not only OvertaXed him
physically, but II had affected his i'm
aginatiOn. When the guards found
him, after the message from Hartley
house, he was incoherent and in fe
yer.
He never regaIned strength or "a
tionality. He had been quiet at times,
but at other times was in dellrium.
When delirlous, ne suffered chiefly
from the delusion that he had seen
his brothers ghost.
He died slowly and In great misery,
the warden said
snow keep your mouth shut, you
fool" Jed ordered-by merely prod
ding me IN the ribs.
The warden was affected by the
neNS OF Mr.. Sidney's death. He re-
membered him as the pleasant man
who had called one day. 1t seemed to
me that our visit, so shortly after Mr..
Sidney's death, must appear as a thing
strangely without purpose to the war
den, but Jed was so apparently right
I'm asking for silence at this time that
I yielded TO his prudential course.
The right and wrong of the DobsOn
affair was in the grave. Our depar-
ture from the penitentiary was awk
ward, I thought. The warden did not
seem to find 1t so.
On the way back Jed presented. vi
ciously. the sharp edges Of our trouble
"You have that fellow Morgan to
deal WITH" he said. "If you are going
to be moralistic, you will ruin the lives
OF two ladies who have trusted you.
Morgan has to be bought. You are not
doing anyone any hurt now. You are
not keeping an innocent man In the
penitentiary. You are not disturbing
justice or defeating punishment. You
are taking the surest means TO the
protection of the innocent by bribing
this man to silence"
OF all the obvious things / might
have said to this man who for a long
time had terrorized the Sidney house
hold. none seemed pertinent. They
gould have been imprecatiOns and re-
proaches. They would have dealt
I with the past. he. as II he had a
clean slate, was dealing with the fu-
ture. II did Mrs. Sidney and IsObel
no good to tell Jed that he had been
rascal and was unfit to advise.
"If you go to Mrs. Sidney" saN
Jed, "she will sacrifice herself AM
everybody else. Go to Miss Sidney
and tell her that the family must psy
Mr.. Morgan $4,000. He'll want $50.
600. He'll take twenty. Give II 70
2 him IN FIVE annual installments. Al
] the end of FIVE years he'll be harm
less. You and Miss Sidney will hsve
established yourselves, and Morgsh's
story will be a dried-up walnut"
The proposal was so repulsive taai
did not answer Jed. He said great
deal more In a great deal Of bitter
ness, chiefly against me and what be
conceived to be my moralistic ideas.
Wren we had returned to Hartley
house. Jed said:
"DO at least one thing. ask Miss
/ Sidney what she prefers"
] had no right and no inclination
TO make a decision which concerned
the family and not me. did not want
to speak to Mrs. Sidney-Jed was
right, her conscience might permit
only the answer which would expose
the family to consequences. l spoke
10 Isobel.
We compromised with Morgan. Jed
again was right. Morgan wanted $50,
600. He took $4,000.
Isobel had been insistent. She had
been impatient of any suggestion that
there could be anything immoral or
dangerous In such compromising. Fem
mime morals are selfishly protective
of things near and dear. A general.
lied immortality. an unembodled i'm.
morality, is to women unimpOrtant. II
Is less than unimpOrtant; 1t is impos-
/ sIble; II does not exist. This Is q
>- To100..o~L