The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1921-12-31

n thc trouhle. You and l are aS
wort as noon and midnight Inc
law has said the only tnihs 'n"'
be said upon it." tho
sbe sank down again upon 'no
wooden bench. "Oh, how. mao you
wore not to tell the whole truth 'ons
ago! You would not have oeen ~
demned, and then .o,e-
She paused, overcome, ana HIS Va,
control almost deserted MIN. wv.
strong feeling he burst out: anu
then we might have come tose'nsi
No. your mother-your friends mSsen
conld not have let that be. See. Sheiia'
will tell you the whole truth now
ave. the whole absolute truth. nav
loved YOU since the first day 1 Sd"
Won on the hills. Not day mas
PASSED since then, when you were ho'
more to me than any other woihah !"
all the world"
A new light came into her face .ne
shadows left her eyes and the palior
fed from her lips. "You loved he'
she said in a voice grown soft-husKy
still but soft as the light in sum
NOR heaven. "You loved me-and
have ALWAYS loved me since we nrst
metz"
~ have always loved you. Sheila'
and shall do so while l have breath
and life. / have always given you the
best that Is in me, tried to do what
was good for us both, since my mis-
fortune-crme, Lord Mallow calls IT,
as does the world. Never sunrise
| that does not find you in the forefront
of all the lighted world; never flower
have | seen that does not seem sweetef
it brings thoughts of you; never
| crime that does not deepen Its shame
| because you are in the world. In pfls-
| on. when l used to mop my MOOR anu
clean down the walls; when L swept
| the dust from the corners; when l
| folded up my cOnvict-clothes; "heh
/ ate the prison food and sang the
prison-hymns when l placed myself
beside the bench in the workshop TO
make things that would bring cash to
my fellow-prisoners in their need
when I saw a minister OF religion or
heard the Litany; when l counted up
the days, first that l had spent In Jail
and then the days l had still to spend
in jail; when l read the books from
the prison library of the land where
you had gone, and Of the struggle
there; when / saw you, in my minds
eye, in the cotton fields or on the We
randa of your house in Virginia; !
had but one thought. and that was the
look in your face at Playmore apd
Limerick, the sound of your voice as
you came singing up the hill just be-
fore l first met you. the joyous beauty
of your body"
"And at scar" she whispered with a
gesture ut once beautiful and pathetic,
for it had the motion Of helplessness
and hopelessness.
"At sea-" he answered. with his eyes
full of intense feeling-"at sea. l was
free at last, doomed as thought, an
guished in spirit, and yet with wild
hope that out of it would come deliv-
GRANGE. l expected to lose my life,
and / lived each day as though II
would be my last l was chief rogue
| in shipful Of rogues, chief sinner
In hell of sinners, and yet l had M
remorse and no regret. l had done
all with an honest purpose, with the
| - ~, IN, mir l. MI
so l lived In daily touch with death,
honor and dishonor. Yet l never saw
| sailor in the shrouds, or heard the
night watch call AIS well = in the
| midst of the night and mutiny, that
did not long for word from you that
would take away the sting of death
Those days at sea for ten long weeks
were never free from anxiety, not
anxiety for myself, only for the men
who had put me where / was, had
given me captains rank, had"
/ Suddenly he stopped, and took from
his pocket the letter he was writing on
the very day she landed in Jamaica
He opened it and studied it for a mo.
ment with q dark look in his face.
This wrote even as you were land
ing in Jamaica, and knew naught OF
your coming. 1t was an outbreak OF
my soul. 1t was the truth written tt
you and for you, and yet with the
feeling that you would never see it.
was still writing it when Michae
Clones came up the drive to tell me
you and your mother were here. Here
it is with all the truth and terror IL
it-aye, there was terror, for 1t gave
the soul of my life to one ] never
thought to see again; and, IL seeing
should be compelled to do what have
done-tell her the whole truth at one,
and SO have it over.
But do not think that in telling /
now l repent of my secrecy. l repen
. of nothing; would not alter anything
What was to be is, and what is has it.
place in the book Of destiny. No,
repent nothing, yet here now / Civ,
you this to read while still my story O.
the days of which you know is in you
ears. Here it is. 1t will tell the Who'll,
story; for when you have read it ant
| do orctaud thop no pst t<. r,,o<k ~.