Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-05
CHAPTER XII.
LOVES ALCHEMY.

4
NV soiourn in that excellent
and extremely well run nurs-
ing home, the Monastery,
~ have not space, time nor de-
sire to tell, for I wish TO write
not Of myself but Of MarjoF1e-ot Mar:
jorie, who now came into my life and
altered it and me.
she did, but by being Marjorie.
I saved her life, but she saved my
soul my real self. !. =. Mar
iorie. the child whom, for 80 pieces OF
silver-or 10000 pieces Of gold-this
dog would have betrayed to cruel
death.
so without a word Of remonStrance, ex-
hortation or admonition. and merely ny
being Marjorie, worked this miracle,
this spiritual alchemy, and slowly
changed q bitter, cruel. murderous ana
vengeful savage back into O decent hu-
man being.
She changed . scared and branded
| conyict-a man who was less man
than a vengeance incarnate-oack mo-
at least, the semblance OF what ne once
had been before the blows Of fate had
bfudgeoned him to his knees ana
stricken him down into the mire.
It is, understand, law of physical
nature that two things cannot occupy
the same space at the same time.
1t was soon, slowly but surely, borne
| in upon my consciousness that this law
applies equally to things OF the spirit.
/ came to the Monastery with my
soul, mean and small as it was. filled
with thoughts Of vengeance and muir
| der.
Even In my better moments, when I
remembered that Vengeance Is Mine,
saith the Lord" again argued that.
| for His vengeance, the Lord must need
a human instrument, and that I would
| be that instrument.
NV mind was diseased, decadent, IN
social and destructive.
And now, gradually, almost from that
hour, the subtle change began, and IN
dual way.
Not only had Rosemary come again
into my life In the form OF Marjorie
| Lauderdell, reawakening the nobleSt OF
all human emotions, but, for the flrSt
time in many years, I was at last
thinking Of some one other than my
self.
Gradually I thought less Of venge-
ance. murder and destruction and more
of help and salvation; less and less Of
the affairs of the wretched John Dacre
Wave Vanderleur st. Clair and more
and more Of those Of Marjorie Lauder
dell.
If helped her to happiness. she
brought to me that which had never
that Joy and happiness which only
The change in me was, Of course,
imperceptible, but the day dawned
when I realized that was no longer
waiting at the Monastery in the role
of avenger, but in that Of protector
and rescuer.
was not biding my time, merely
to choose the occasion for my venge-
ance, but waiting until the arrest and
execution of Chink DorSon should leave
me free to move about without fear Of
arrest-a very real fear, for my de-
scription had been broadcast by the
police as that of a suspicious stranger
who had hung about at Witherby End
and had mysteriously disappeared by
early morning train Immediately after
the murder.
Possibly, even II arrested on suspi-
cion and proved to have been in the
house that night, could clear myself
Of the charge Of murder, but I might
as we'll be hanged as sent back to live
a lingering death In the American
prison from which had escaped.
Once Chink Dorson was arrested,
found guilty and hanged, could then
set about effecting Marjorie's escape
from her position of danger.
For my own fate I cared little, but
what would be the child'S fate II, es-
Gaping, I were arrested in her COM
pany and she again fell into the
clutches of that vile woman, her uncle's
wife and this viler man, Charters?
The moment that saw Marjorie !
loved her, because she was my daughter
Rosemary.
Imperceptibly, but quickly, my deep,
devoted love for her changed completely