The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-08-02
PAGE SCI EN-,


surely. would have.
"whsn I'm bsttep,. Ju1s, I'm 60.
ing away. ought 70 b, better.
why is Il takipf me o lonC.--
much longer th:n hal thousht.-'
Judith looked at the glowing eyes:
the red hair falling In deep wave
over the roundsd forehead. How
different from the dear, 1ltthe Sandy
who used to come breexing into the
office on many an unexpected Sat
urday--breexinG in all perfume and
lit""' throat" laughs.
How wondrous Judith had fancied
1t must be to walk SOTO have all
that flippant chatter ripping ct her
lips; to be SO arrogant with men xnd
love: so careless with her kisses.
How wondrous to be Sandy with the
dazzling future that should surely
come to one SO audacious-such =
thrill to look upon.
Hastily Judith took the cup.
Sandy repeated: "Why does it
take me so long to get better. Jude?
Some days / feel great--and today.
not SO great"
Because you worry. Sandy. Hal
says you're not to think Of thing
except happy things"
"Oh. Judith"
and you're much better"
From the far end Of the room Judith
repeated: Ever SO much better"
But Sandy was worse. And every
day Hal Hume became more uneasy.
He was afraid the wound had lit up
an old inflammation Three days
ago he said this to Judith.
He said: "Ill have to tell Doug.
Give him another smash"
Judith WINGED. Every time she
looked ut SANDY she thought: "How
has it all happened? Oh. dear, dear.
God-how can all this bel"
The moth had been a crucifixion
A month since the inconceivable thing
had happened. A month Douglas was
held in Jail.
Even in whisper Judith wouldn't
say: Charged with murder" But
sometimes in the night she awaken
ed to find herself sitting bolt up
right. her forehead and her hair
damp; her heart beating violently.
Then her lips were saying: "Mur-
dcrOh. my God---murder!"
And she would press her hands
ron"hly together. Of course they
didn't mean it. 1t was just to force
him--makc him confess
They brought his mother there
day after day. And his mother inn
plored him to tell what he knew
oh, didn't he know something? Tell
it. thcn--tcll it to case her tortured
soul.
All this proved to Judith's despcr-
ate hope that the charge was just
an effort to bring out the facts.
The charge would be dismissed.
For whole month Judith had
praying with an insane fcrvor. The
idea! Douglas charged with MUIR
der! No one would believe him
guilty--no one in all the world.
/ But the month passed and
tomorrow they would choose men to
try him twelve men. And these men
wouldn't see the bonny lad Judith
had spied on as he dried the dishes
for Em-as he brought table near
thc stove on cold night and did
his drawings he stood up. tired.
running hand through the slick.
brown hair, surveying his work. show
ing it delightedly to his mother with
IA jubilsnt: Smart boy. this son Of
yours. Emf"
They wouldn't see the Douglas
Judith knew. But stubborn
youth. whose finer prints were
found in the room where murder
had been done. A hardened crimi
nal positively identified by three
Ramon's office on. the night Ramon
died; entered his office, shot him,
carried away some wounded girl.
And now callously presumed to lie
out Of it all.
These were the things that would
be told Of Douglas.
Judith went to the door, looking
down over trees to the distant. sill
vcr-traced bay. The hills were blue
and impalpable. mellowing into the
sky.
The middle Of March-she thought
of Douglas sitting in cell. She
had never been in Jail. She won
aercd what the cell was like. She
saw him with the dark. hazel eyes
that she couldn't quite bear to look
these young. fighting eyes grown
desperate. Saw him with the young.
manly chin grimly set. Shea had
picture in her thoughts of him when
nc sometimes talked SO emphatically
through shut teeth. She always
laughed when he got vicious over
this and that.
But now fancying him so. she
leaned dcspondcntly against the
door. Tears rushed to her eyes. She
thought: His life is ruinei--just
ruined :"
Suddenly she recalled the way he
looked on New Years Eve AS he
came dashing dawn the hill
SO snappy in his tux with the tai
cum gllstcning on his face. He liked
p little shine. That's What he said.
She recalled the insistent note in
his voice when he said: Jaw. come
on. Jude-bc sport. Judy darling.
and conc along" and there WAS
such chummy tenderness in his
look. ~ stsss.E..
She tried to imagine this Doug
las As he would look in cell
as he would look in a courtroom
charged with the murder Of man.
But when she did this her heart
seemed to swell and burst. 1t
seemed to choke her.
She lay stiffly awake. She wrung
her hands and whispered threaten
inglv: "God can you let this be p"
All that next day she was beside
herself. She went to the kitchen
to prepare Sandy's lunch and stood
an hour leaning against the wall.
her checks pressed there.
4 She kept hurrying to the door.
From two o'clock she kept going to
tho door.
But Hal Hume never came until
six. He brought the evening paper.
Judith took these into. the kitchen
read them and burned them max
Ing. sure that Sandy wouldn't find
them.
+ At five o'clock she told herself:
HE may come easlier toni1At
he'll want to tell me what they've