Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-11-04
al killed sila. ="

fearing the result OF such an emotion. He
dared not visit even my mothers grave.
Can't you see. sir: your life and his wrecked
and part of mine by a man you and I never
saw, whose name we do not know, who was
physically as remote as the pole? All three
of us %inDocent b%ystAnders. HE searched for
I you, through detective agencies. to the day
of his death. To win for you the fortune
he had promised YOU. To win a. separate
one for mesto compensate me for a forlorn
youth. Will you read this letter. sir?i X
He was not aware OF it. but he threw into
his voice q deep and tender yearning. He
did not recognize that, in this moment, there
was nothing else comparable to bringing this
man back to sanity, back to life, shattered
though it was, and in the end to make d
friend of him. -
It cannot return to you your dear ones, it
cannot recall those dreadful years in prison,
it cannot restore my empty boyhood:- but IL
1t brought understanding to me it will bring
understanding TO you. sir"
Slowly Kennedy stretched out his hand
for the letter.
For fully a minute Kennedy held the en-.
velope in his hand without attempting to
extract the contents; stared at it as q MANI
might stare at a strange door, wondering
what he should find If he opened it. Every
thing. or nothing? There was a fash Of
grim humor, perhaps the last he, was ever to
know. Supposing the boy spoke truly? Why,
Charles Jeremiah Kennedy would not have
a single thing to live for. Almost instantly
She would change from the corporal to thu
ghostly; from a human being, filled with
passionate desire for vengeance. he would
become an empty shade, physically without
direction, mentally without conference.
Something in the boys tone and manner
carried Kennedy back thirty.odd years, to
Cambridge, to the days when heAand Silas
had beer. q pair Of lively young scamps. into
all kinds Of mischief, but always passing
their examinations creditably; in the end, to
be awarded their sheepskins. to the mild be-
wilderment Of the faculty, who could not un.
derstaIld the apparent ease with which they
two had accomplished the. feat.
Suddenly he cOmprehended why the sight
Of the boy always started a murderous rage
to bubbling in his heart. The boy looked
like the Silas Of the Cambridge days: perhaps
a grain finer. morel imaginative, less dy-
manic. singer. but with the same humor and,
3courage. Dear God! supposfnx In this let.
ter he was ito find faith again, in God. in
HIMSELF
His hand began to tremble. After alK II
might be : ~cunningly constructed lie; there
were such things. With a savage, gesture he
drew out the letter and unfolded 1t. but
from wherein sat he could not see to read;
the gas was too. thin, He laid his battery
lamp on the table5so that 1t would focus the
letteS but leave his face in jpenumbra. He
began to read, 49, sS#s.aa a{@IN
a Banefoftgecould not see the mans,
sfacs 'disti4ctiy; he watched the lean white.
muscular hands, and drew his tnferennccs
from these. At first the fingers were rest.
II les, but presently this restlessness .passed
and muscular tensity erisued. Kennedy Wa
now gripping the letter: sss1S
Bancroftss conception OF God was still I'm.
Impaired b cynicisln. the half baked cyn.
icislp of youth. Hs-hads read ths iconoclasts.
d they : not even scratched his faitii.