Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07


missed" and q sharp situation con-
n corning cheese had thus become neg
Y, igible when, before the next case on
the calendar could be called, Jens
Jevins came forward and said loudly:
IT wish to confess to the murder Of my
wife"
Now the courtroom was still, the fierce heat
forgotten, and the people stupefied, for Jens
Jevins was the richest farmer in the town
ship. No one tried to silence or delay him.
He now faced the judge and now the people,
his face and neck the color of chicken skin,
his tossed hair like a raveled fabric, his long
right arm making always the same gesture.
His clothes were good and some one had
pressed them.
Il planned to kill Agna for a long time
There was time when for a week I slept
with a pistol under my pillow, hoping for the
strength to shoot her in her sleep. When I
could tell by her breathing that it was time
I'd get up on my elbow and look at her, but
never had the courage to use the pistol on
her-no, though I sat up in bed sometimes for
half an hour with my finger on the trigger.
Something would delay me-our dog would
bark or the kitchen clock would strike, or
would imagine my father shaking his head at
me, and once she woke me and asked me
whether had locked the porch door.
"Most Of that week the room was as bright
as morning. because the moon Shone in, but as
it rose later and hung higher. the room grew
dark. Then thought Of better plan"
THE courtroom was held as a ball of glass, in
- which black figures hang in arrested mo-
ton. The silence was not vacant, but rich
and whey, like q rest in music. It was the
rest in the tread of giant, one step, one step,
: and men crushed and powerless. The Judge,
the bailifs, the spectators were crushed and
powerless all with staring eyes, and their
short breath caught through the mouth Jens
and Agna Jevins, they were known to all, and
he so prosperous. and she a small. complaining
woman. who took prizes with whom all must
have talked on bright mornings, after she had
lain asleep, close to death.
Eat the south Of our lot" Jens Jevins con-
4tnued, and conversationally quite quietly as
If he were talking to some surveyors, there
1s o long slope and then q pond, where In my
fathers time they took out clay to make
bricks This place Is not fenced, IS separated
from the highway by few alders-some of
you know" he said, with an air Of surprise,
remembering the spectators as living beings
who had experienced his highway and the sight
OF his pond. IT would go down there some
times on Spring evenings when the boys were
Alexander boy fell in-over his head he went
for the pond is above 7 feet deep there
and Is farther out. that was standing near
was able to seize on him-I mention this be-
cause pulling him out put in my head the
Idea Of what to do with Agna.
$50 the next day waited till late and said
to her that we might walk down and watch
the boys catch frogs. She was glad to 90 and
mentioned that I didn't often invite her to
take evening walks any more. and we went
down the slope. But hadn't waited long
enough the boys were still there.
"She and stood on the rim of the pond,
and I edged her toward the place where the
Alexander boy went in, and saw how easy it
would be to send her down and keep her from
climbing out. Only the boys were still there.
1T was dusk and the cars from town came
down the highway and took the turn beyond
our alders and it looked as If they all were
coming straight on to us, till they swung the
corner. She said, What if one didn't see the
turn and came crashing on to u.s. and she
shvered and said her shoulders were chilly,
though the night was warm. and she wanted
to go back to the house. So we went back.
and read the evening paper aloud, about q
young couple that had got married that dav
at Sun Prairie and had had a great doines
She said she wished we were starting over
and SAID, I don't and went to bed.
But IN the night woke up and thought Of
what sned said. What II we were starting
over? And II I'd murder her early saw on
tne honeymoon? saw that couldn't have
done it then. I wondered how I could do It
now" ~
NOW the judge found his voice and leaned
down as If he were ill or drunken and said
from his threat: why did you want to do itP"
Jens Jevins looked astonished. IT didn't
want to do it, he said, but there was 81 yearx
q IT already and there might be 20 more" =,