Evening star., 1923-12-03

And he stared at the face. stared
for time without recognition. And
thten as he smiled and the face In the
mirror smiled with him in distorted
movement OF the lips he swept his
hand across his eyes.
John Bruce" he said.
1t seemed to arouse him from some
mental absorption in which his physi-
cal entity had been lost. 1t was 5
o'clock, and he was John Bruce. At
IL o'clock---or was 1t 12?-last night
he had left Hawkins standing by the
door Of the travelling pawnshop. and
since then
He stared around him. He was
somewhere downtown. He did not
know where. He began to walk In
an uptown direction.
Something had been born in those
hours-something cataclysmic- What
was II?
Or him! The words came again
aloud--without apparent volition.
What did that mean? II had soIne-
thing to do with Hawkins; with what
Hawkins had said, standing there by
the travelling pawnshop. What was II
bored: "I'd rather see her dead"
Or him."
with cold judicial precision now tho
hours unrolled themselves before him.
"Or him!'
He was going to kill Crang.
The hours of mental strife, of tor
ment through which he had just
passed, were as the memory of some
sack upon which his soul had been
put to torture. They came back vtv-
idly now. those hours-every minute
OF them living eternity. His soul
had shrunk back aghast at frst. and
called it murder; but IL was not muir
der, or. If II was, 1t was impera-
tive. II was the life of foul viper
of Claire's. II was the life OF an
unclean thing that Knocked and desc
Grated all decency. that flung It's sor-
did challenge at every law, both hu-
clean soul made the piaything ol this
beast. and dragged into the mire OF
unutterable abomination to suffocate
and stranBle In It's noxious sur
roundiugs and die.
And that soul was IN jeopardy be-
cause at this moment he, John Bruce
had the power OF movement in hia
limbs, the senBe Of sight, the ability
70 stretch out his hand and feel 1t
touch that lamp-post there, and, IL ne
would, 20 speak aloud and designate
that object for what IL was--a lamp
post. She had bought him these
things with her life. should she die
and he live?
And he remembered back through
those hours since midnight. when his
soul had still faltered before the TAX
ing OF human life, how 1t had sought
some other way, some alternative,
any alternative. A jail sentence for
Crang. There was enough. more than
Crang double life. to convict the
MN Tor the robbery Of that safe. But
Claire had answered that in the long
ago: IL will marry him when he
comes out" Oh. then. to get Crang
away again like this afternoon-no.
morning. In a few hours, that they
were to be married. There was no
time left in which to attempt any
thing like that; but, even II there
poned the day of reckoning. Claire
would wait. Crang would come back.
He was going to Kill Crang.
II he didn't crang would kill him.
He knew that, too. But his decision
was not actuated. or even swayed. by
any consideration OF seif-preserva-
ticn. He had no thought OF his iuture
or his safety. That was already set
tied. With his decision was irrev-
ocably coupled the forfeiting of his
longed to Claire. Claire had bought
II. He was only giving it back that
the abysmal price she had agreed to
pay should not be extorted from her.
Once he had accomplished his pur-
pose. he would give himself up to the
police.
He was going 10 Kill Crang.
That was what had been born out
of the travail of those hours OF the
night. But there were other things
to do first. He walked briskly now
The decision in itself no longer occu-
pied his thoughts. The decision was
absolute: II was final. II was those
'othter things" that he must consider
row. There was Larmon. He could
not tell Larmon wha. he, John Bruce,
was going to do. but he must warn
Larmon to be on his guard against
any past or present connection with