Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-04

made excuse to 20 up to it--a drink
Of milk or water.
Day followed day without result.
His heart was sinking. More than once
he met somebody whom he knew and
had to make excuse for his rambling.
Wonderful what walking tour did to
after Re had been shut up too long In
nm OMcc! His friends looked after him
with strange expression. He had been
something Of a. dandy. but his hair was
uncombed and his linen. was becoming
soiled and even dirty.
AT length he became a prey to illn
sions. He always slept in the last house
he came to, and one night, in a fisher
mans cottage near Fleswick, he was
awakened by the wind blowing over the
thatch. He thought it sounded like the
voice of Bessie, and that she was wan.
dering over the highway in the dark
ness. alone and distrausht.
Next day he began to inquire II any.
thing had been seen OF such person
He was told Of young woman who
found walking barefoot on the lonely
road to Dreamlang, had been taken to
the asylum, and he hurried there to in
uuire, No, It was not Bessie. Some
pOor wife who, only ak months married
and beginning to be happy in the pros
pect Of child, had lost her husband In
an accident at the mines at Foxdale.
The dread Of suicide took hold Of
him. One day a fish cadger on the road
told him that young woman ood!
had been washed ashore at Peel. Again
It was nothing-nothing to him. The
wife of the captain of Norwegian
schooner which had been wrecked of
Contrary--with her eyes open and he'
baby locked in her rigid arms.
Alexis heart was failing him. Do
| what he would to keep down evil
thoughts they were getting the better
OF him. Sometimes he rested on the
seat that usually stands outside the
whitewashed porch of a Manx cottage'
and although he thought he said 80
little he found that the women, espe .
cially such Of them as were mothers OF
grown up girls, seemed to divine the
object Of his journey. ,., .,
Jaw. yes. that's the way with tnem,
the boghs, especially when there's
m.n msn 1StHe:'n: both II them Was there any
But Alick was up and gone before
they could finish their question.
Thus ten days passed: Absorbed In
his search. perplexed and tortured, he
had seen no newspaper and heard
nothing Of what was happening in the
island. Suddenly 1t occurred to him
that Bessie could not have left him so
long without news of her. She could
NOT be 80 cruel; she must have written,
and her letter must be lying Mt his
Office.
People who knew him. and saw him
return to Douglas, could scarcely rec
opnize him in the pale, unwashed, un'
shayen man who climbed the steps from
the station. looking like a drunkard
who had been sleeping out In the felds.
His chambers, when he turned the
kew (he had no clerk now), were stuny
and cheerless. The ashes OF his !ast
fire were on the hearth, and his desk
was covered with dust. Behind the
door The had no letter box a NUMBER
of circulars and bills lay on the ground.
Inf running his trembling fingers
through them, lie found no letter from
Bessie.
There was large and bulky enve.
lone, with the seal OF Government
House, and marked immediate What
could it be? On the top OF thick body
of folio paper he found letter. 1t
was from Fcnella Stanley.
"Dear Mr., Gell-At the suggestion
Of Mr.. Stowell, who is still in London.
I am writing on behalf Of the Women's
Protection League, to ask you IT you
can undertake the defense OF the young
woman in the north Of the island VINO
IL to be charged with the murder OF her
new born child
Alici. pau ied hon''ht to draw
breath.
high bailiff's inquiry and the copy OF
the depositions which l inclose that the
girl denies everything. and that her
mother supports her, but the evidence is
only too sadly against her--particularly
that of the doctors and Of two neighbors
who live higher up the glen.'
Alick felt his heart stop and his
whole body grew cold.
''Her stepfather W
The letter almost dropped from his
"Her stepfather has not been asked
by the prosecution to depose. and 1t is
doubtful de if the defense ought to call
He was becoming dizzy. The lines
of the letter were running into each
other.
"Innocent or guilty. the girl has suf-
fered terribly. She has been several
days in hospital at Ramsey, but she
was to be removed to Castle Rushen
this morning. Her case Is TO come on
next week at the Court of General
Gaol Delivery. SO perhaps you will send
me a telegram immediately saying II
YOU can take W the defense.
"As you see the poor creature is her.
self an illegitimate child--the name by
which she is commonly known being
Bessie Collister."
Alick shrieked. He had seen tho
blow coming, but when 1t came 1t fell
on him like a thunderbOlt.
1t was all n lie-a damned lie No
body would make him believe it. Bessie
arrested for the murder Of her child.
She had never had child.
lie leaped to his feet and tramped
the room on stiffened limbs and with
a heart throbbing with anger. Then.
half afraid, but doing his best to com.
pose himself, he took the, report and
the depOsitiOns out Of the big envelope,
and, sitting before the dead hearth
with his shaking feet on the fender.
and holding the folio pages in his dead
cold hands, he read the evidence.
AS he did SO he shrieked again, but
this time with laughter. What It's
sue of manifest lies! The Skillicornes
and their quarrel, with Dan Baldromma
what a malicious conspiracy! Lord:
what blind fools the police could be.
And the attnrnpv hnl Ia rnno IN his