Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1936-06-26

! c0tAS w OAAS a
an old derelict and-But, for thai
matter, we're all three derelicts
Isn't it better for us to drift to.
stream. Jacob described the exac,
spot and said the weapon coule
easily be recovered.
That was about all. He voicee
no regrets; on the contrary, he wa.
genuinely exalted and it was plair
that he anticipated no punishment,
whatever for having done God,
bidding.
Vogel arrived in due time. HI
listened attentively to what wa,
told him, then he questioned thu
old man searchingly. After a while
he and Jerry's lawyers left, taking
Jacob with them. The newspaper
men had gone some time before.
Hazel would have followed them,
for she reasoned that Jerry would
soon be at liberty and would natur-
ally come directly here, but Mrs.
Holmes was wretchedly .unstrung
and implored her to remain, for a
: while at least. 1t was impossible
to desert a woman SO genuinely in
need of assistance until she had
time to pull herself together, So the
girl stayed,
A really noticeable change had
come over Gerald's mother. The
process of voluntarily stripping
bare her soul and exposing it to
the light had served the purpose
of cleansing it and purifying it
to some extent. She showed it in
her words, her actions, in the ap-
prehension she displayed at the
prospect of meeting her son. She
wondered if he would be harsh
with her. She made pitiful, flut-
tering attemps o better her ap-
%ipearance, but her recent ordeal
had left her almost helpless .ano
Hazel was compelled to do the
work of her hands.
Jerry arrived before the CIR.
could escape Vogel, it seemed
was capable of cutting red tapt
when he felt like it. He entered
the room, breathless, radiant
Without a word, except the on.
cry. "Mother!" he ran to MARY
Holiness chair and knelt beside
it. Hungrily she put her arms
about him, pressed him to hel
breast. Her face was glorifiee
with an expression it had never
worn before. Its g~nossness wa
burned away and in its place shon'
a suggestion at least of the beauty
that had been Maria di Nardi's
She crooned over her boy, she pat
ted and she petted him, stroked hi
hair and kissed it.
Hazel looked on through a mis-,
of tears. She resisted blindly
when, after a while, Jerry ros'
and took her hands in his.
"They told me how you stoo.
by u.s." she heard him saying
How you hired those lawyers TO
me and everything" He ran OF
with something more, somethin,
about demented old Jacob and tn
necessity of making sure that ne
punishment was visited upon him
but Hazel understood little be
cause of the roaring in her ears.
Of course Jerry was grateful
she had expected nothing less. Sh
assumed, however, that this meet
ing must be as distressing to hin
as to her, and she blamed hersel
for inflicting this unnecessary pain
upon them.
Mary Holmes fathomed tn
cause of the girls peculiar agita
ton and it indicated the chang
that had occurred in the older VIC
man when she forgot herself ant
her own concerns sufficiently tt
say:
Jerry, dear, we owe everythin!
to this child. She did as mucl
for me as for you. And yet sh'
wants to run away! If you cal
forgive me for what I've don'
you can surely forgive her"
"But he has n-nothing to for
give" sobbed the girl. THAT
Just it. You don't understand
Nobody understands. If l wer'
guilty I'd deserve punishment, bu'
I'm not. They called me a scarlet
woman; they preached sermon'
about me; they lied and slanderee
and they didn't give me
chance to defend myself! Ever
old Jacob Believed"
Terry's voice rose above hel