r .i||:
I ? Satan i.
Sanderson *
By HALLIE CRMIN1C HIVES.
Author ol 'HttntCoura|e?ui." Etc
Copyright. 190s, the Bobba-Mcrrfli,
Company.
in tne rooru Jessica bad left the tur
moil was simmering down. Here and
there a match was struck and showed
a circle of brightness. The glimmer of
one of them lit the countenance of a
man who had brushed her sleeve a3 he
entered. It was Hallelujah Jones
"Walt, wait!" he cried. "I have evi
dence to give!" He pointed excitedly
toward Harry "This man Is not what
you think He Is not"?
The judge's gavel thumped upon the
wood "How dare you," he vociferated,
"break in upon the deliberations of this
court? I fine you $'JU for contempt."
Feider bad leaped to bis feet. What
could this man know? He took a
bill from his pocket and clapped It
down on the clerk's desk.
"I beg to purge him of contempt." he
said, "and call him as a witness."
Hallelujah Jones snatched the Bible
from the clerk's bands and kissed it
Knowledge was burning his tongue
The jury were leaniug forward In their
seats
"Have you ever seen the prisoner lie
fore?" asked Felder.
"Yes."
"When ?"
"When he was a minister of the pros- J
pel" * \
Felder stared The judge frowned t
The jury looked at one another, and a i
laugh ran round the hushed room t
The merriment kindled the evangel- c
Ist's distempafed passion Sudden an 'j
ger flamed in him. He leaned forward a
and shook -.is hand vehemently a; th* c
table where Harry sat, his face as col- |
orless as the flower he wore. i
"That man's name," he blazed, "is ,
not Hugh Stires. It is a cloak he has ,
chosen to cover his shame. He is the
Bev. llenry Sanderson of Aniston." ,
???????,
Harry's pulses had leaped with ex- i
citement when the street preacher's 1
first exclamation startled the court- i
room; now they were beating as though
they must burst. Through the stir <
about him he heard the crisp voice of 1
the district attorney: <
"I ask your honor's permission before
this extraordinary witness is examined
further," he said caustically, "to read
an item printed here which has a bear
ing upon the testimony." He held In
bis hand a newspaper which earlier in
the afternoon, with cynical disregard
of Felder's tactics, he had been casual,
ly perusing.
"Read It, sir."
Holding the newspaper to a candle,
the lawyer read In an even voice, pref
acing his reading with the journal's
name and date:
This city, which was aroused In the
flight by the burning of St. James' chapel,
will be greatly shocked to learn that its
rector, the Rev. Henry Sanderson, who
has been for some months on asprolonged
vacation, was In the building at the time
and now lies at the city hospital, suffer
ing from injuries from which it is ru
mored there is grave doubt of his re- i
covery.
In the titter that rippled the court
room Harry felt his heart bound and ;
swell. Under the succinct statement
he clearly discerned the fact. He saw
the pitfall into which Hugh had fallen ,
?the trap Into which he himself had i
Bent him on that fatal errand with the
ruby ring on his finger. "Grave doubt ,
of his recovery!" A surge of relief
?tvept over him to his finger tips. He
would be free to go back?to be him
self again, to be Jessica's?if Hugh
died. The reading voice druvimed In
his ears:
The facts have not as yet been ascer
tained. but It seems clear that the popu- i
lar young minister returned to town un
expectedly last night and was asleep In
his study when the fire started. His
presence In the bulldog was unguessed
until too late, and It mas by little short
of a miracle that he was brought out
alive.
As we go to press we learn that Mr.
Sanderson's condition is much more hope
ful than was at first reported.
Harry's heart contracted as If b
giant band bad clutched it His ela
tion fell like a rotten tree girdled at
the root*. If Hugh did not die! He
chilled as though in a spray of liquid
air. Hugh's escape?the chance his
conscience had given him?was cut off.
The judge reached for the newspaper
the lawyer held, ran his eye over It
and brought his gavel down with an
snort.
"Take him away," h? said. "HI* tes
timony Is ordered stricken from the
records. The fine la remitted, Mr.
Felder. We can't make you responsi
ble for lunatics. The court stands ad
journed."
Felder had been among the last to
leave the courtroom. He was dis
comfited and angry. At the door of
the courthouse Dr. Brent slipped an
arm through his.
"Too bad. Tom," be said sympathiz
ing!}'. "I don't think you quite de
served it."
Felder paced a moment without
(?l eaking. "I need evidence," he said
tlien; "anything that may help. I
made a mistake. Ton beard all the
testimony V
The other nodded.
"What did you think of it?"
"What could any one think? 1 give
all credit to your motive, Tom, but it's
a pity you're mixed up in It"
"Why?"
"Because, if there's anything In hu
man evidence, he's a thoroughly worth
less reprobate. He lay for Moreau
and murdered him in cold blood, and
be ought to swing."
"The casual view." said the lawyer
gloomily. "Just what 1 should have
aid myself?If this hud happened ? J
uoutb ago."
His friend looked at blui wttb an
mused expression. "I begin to think
le must be a remarkable man!" be
aid. "Is it possible be has really con
?inced you that he Isn't guilty ?"
Felder turned upon the doctor
quarely "Yes." be returned bluntly
He has. Whatever 1 may have be
leved when I took this case. 1 have
ome to the conclusion?agalust all my
irofessionai instincts, mind you?that
le never killed Moreau. I believe he's
is Innocent as either you or II"
"Ue has as good as admitted to Miss
lolme that he knows who did It"
"Come, come! Putting his neck Into
he noose for mere Quixotic feeling?
Ind who, pray. In this God forsaken
own, should be be ?<*crlflclng himself
or?" the doctor asked satirically.
"That's the rub." said the lawyer.
'Nobody. Vet I hang by my proposi
lon."
"Well, he'll hang by something less
enuous, I'm afraid. But it won't be
,?. your fault The
crazy evangelist
was ouly an In
cident He mere
ly served to Jolt
us back to the
normal. By the
way, did you
hear him splutter
after he got outV"
"No."
"Y o u remem
ber the story he
told the other
uigbt of the min
ister who was
caught gambling
oil his own com
jciurjcu. wie itinerant, muniou table?
Yell. Hugh Stires is not only the Rev
rend Henry Somethiug-or-other, but
le is that man too! The crack brained
(Id idiot would have told the tale all
iver again only the crowd hustled him
Phone he is now," he said suddenly
is n light sprang up and voices broke
lut on the opposite corner. "The gang
Is standing by. I see your friend Bar
ney McGinn," he added, with a grim
enjoyment. "I doubt If there are many
:onverts tonight"
Even as he spoke there came a shout
Df laughter and warning. The specta
tors scattered in ail directions, and a
stream of water from a well directed
hose deluged the itinerant and bis mu
sic box.
Ten minutes later the street preacher,
Jrenched and furious, was trundling
liis melodeon toward Fnneral Iloilow,
an his way to the coast.
Chapter 28 j
S Harry stood again In the
Owi obscure half darkness of
<y/ \ cell it came to him
> that the present had a
farreaching significance;
? that it was but the handi
work and resultant of forces in his
own past He himself had set Hugh's
feet on the red path that had pointed
him to the shameful terminus. He had
gambled for Hugh's future, forgetting
that his past remained, a thing that
must be covered. He had won Hugh's
counters, but his own right to be him
self he had staked and lost long before
that game on the communion table un
der the painted crucifixion.
The words he had once said to Hugh
recurred to him with a kind of awe:
"Put myself In your place? I wish to
God I could!"
raie?ur v* us it vjuu ;?umi lUKt'U uiui
at his word. He had been hurled like
a stone from a catapult Into Hugh's
place?to bear his knavery, to suffer his
dishonor and to redeem the baleful rep
utation be had made.
A step outside the cell, the turning
of the key. The door opened, and
Jessica, pale and trembling, stood on
the threshold.
"1 cannot help It," she said as she
came toward him, "though yon told
me not to come> I have trusted all the
while and watted and?and prayed.
But today I was afraid. Surely, sure
ly, the man you are protecting has had
time enough. Hasn't he? Won't you
tell them the truth now?"
He knew not how to meet the piteous
reproach and terror of that look. She
had not heard the street preacher's
declaration, he knew, but even If she
bad It would have been te her only
an echo ef the old moeted likeness. He
had given her comfort once, but this
was no monp U> be, no matter what It
meant to hlcn Or to her.
"Jessica." he said steadily, "when
yon cane to me here that first day
and I told yon not to fear for me I did
not mean to deceive yon. I thought
then that It would aH come right But
something has happened since then
something that nakea a difference. I
cannot tell who waa the murderer of
Moreau. I cannot tell you or any one
else, either now or at any time."
She gazed at him startled. She had
a sudden conception of some element
hitherto unsuessed In his makeup
something Inveterate and adamant
Could It be that be did not Intend to
tell at all? The very Idea waa mon
strous. Yet that clearly was his mean
ing. She looked at him with flashing
eyes.
"Ton mean yon will not!" she ex
claimed bitterly. "Ton are bent on
sacrificing yourself, then? Ton are go
ing to take this risk because you think
It brave and noble, because somehow
It fits your man's goapeL Can't you
see how wicked and selfish It Is? You
are thinking only of him and of your
self. aot of me."
"Jessica, Jessica!" tie protester) with c
a groan But In the self torture of her c
questionings she pah) u<> lieetl i
"Don't you think I suHer? Haven't I
borne enough In the months since I f
married you for you to want to save 1
tne this? l>o you owe me nothing, me f
whom you so wronged, whose"- s
She stopped suddenly at the look on I
his face of mortal pain, for she had t
struck harder than she knew It plere t
ed through the tierce resentment to tier f
deepest heart, and all her love and pity I
gushed hack upon her In a torrent i
She threw herself ou her knees h.\ the 1
hare col. crying passionately: t
"Ob. forgive me! l-'orget what I said c
I did not mean 1L I have forgiven yon t
a thousand times over. I never ceased 1
to love you 1 love you now more than i
all the world "
"It Is true." be said, hoarse misery in t
his tone "1 have wronged you It I t
could coin my blood drop by drop to
pay for the past I could not set that
right. If giving my life over and over 1
again would save you pain I would ]
give It gladly But what you ask now
Is one thing I cannot do It would '
make me a pitiful coward I did not '
kill Moreau That is all 1 can say to
you or to those who try me."
"Your life!" she said with dry lips. '
"!t will mean that That counts so '
fearfully much to me. more than my
own life a hundred times Yet thei " is
something that counts more than all !
that to you "
ms a ace was mat or a man i* no 1
holds Ilia hand In the fire "Jessica ' |
he said, "it is like this with me When
yon found ine here?the day I sa-> vou 1
on tlie balcony?I was a mat) ?'lose
so"! had lost Its compass and !'? *'cnr- 1
i'.'Ss Xly conscience was asleep Vyo ?
woke it. and it Is fiercely allvi ww. '
And now with my memory has .-?me '
hack a de!^ of my past 'hat I never '
paid Whatever the outume. for my 1
soul's sake 1 must settle '< now and
wipe It from the score forever"
She rose slowly to her feet. w'i it :
I
despairing gesture.
"'He saved others.'" she quote t "i J
a hard voice; '"himself he cou' 1 not
rave!' 1 once heard a minister pi. ii i
from that text at home. It was ,..ur :
friend, the Uev. Henry Sander^. I
thought It a very spiritual >?? mn
then. That was before I knew what i
his companionship had been to ; ox" i
"if there were any justice In t.ic uni
verse," she added, "it should lie he
Immolating himself now, not you. But i
for him you would never be here. He
ruined your life and mine, and I hate
and despise him for a selfish hypo
crite."
That was what he himself had i
seemed to her in those old day%, The
edge of a flush touched his forehead
as he said slowly, almost appealingly:
"He was not a hypocrite. Jessica.
Whatever he was It was not that. At
college he did what he did too openly.
That was his failing, not caring what
others thought. He despised weakness
in others. He thought it none of bis i
affair. So others were influenced. But
after he came to see things differently
from another standpoint?when he
went into the ministry?he would have
given the world to undo it."
"Men's likings are strange," she said.
"Because he never had temptations
like yours and has never done what ?
the law calls wrong you think he is as
noble as you?noble enough to shield
i murderer to his own danger."
"Ah, no, Jessica!" he Interposed gen
tly. "I only said that In my place he
would (fo the same."
"But you are shielding a murderer,"
she Insisted fiercely. "You will not ad
mit It. but I know. There can be no
Justice or right in that. If Harry San
derson Is all you think him, if he
stood here now and knew the whole,
he would say It was wicked?not brave
and noble, but wicked and cruel."
He shook his head, and the sad
shadow of a bitter smile touched his
lips. "He would not say so." he said.
A dry sob answered him. lie turned
and leaned his elbows on the narrow
window sill, every nerve aching, but
powerless to comfort. He heard her
step. The door closed sharply.
Then he faced Into the empty cell. -
sat down on the cot and threw out his
arms, with a hopeless cry:
"Jessica. Jessica!"
? ??????
Jessica left the Jail with despair In
her heart. The hope en which she had
fed these past days had failed her
What was there left for her to do?
Like a swift wind, she went up the
street to Felder*s office She groped
her way up the unllghted stair and
tapped on the doer. There was no an
swer. She pushed It open and entered
the empty outer room, where a study
lamp burned on the desk.
A pile of legal looking papers bad
been set beside It, and with tbem lay a
torn page of a newspaper whose fa
miliar caption gave her a stab of pain.
Terhaps the news of the trial bad
found Its wsy across the ranges to
where the names of Stlres and Moreau
had been known. Perhaps every one
at Anlston already knew of It, was
reading about It pitying her. She pick
ed it up and scanned It hastily. There
was no hint of the trial, but her eye
caught the news which had played its
role In the courtroom, and she read It
to the end.
Even In her own trouble she read It
with a shiver. Yet. awful as the fate
which Harry Sanderson had so nar
rowly missed. It was not to be com
pared with that which awaited Hugh,
for, awful as It was. It held no shame
In a gust of feeling she slipped to
her knees by the one sofa the room
contained and prayed passionately. As
she drew out her handkerchief to
stanch the tears that came something
fell with a musical tinkle at her feet
It was the little cross she had fouuil
In front of the hillside cabin thaf bad
lain forgotten In her pocket during the
past anxious days. As she pressed it
the ring at the top gave way, and the
?ross parted tn halves Words were I
?njrrnvetl on tLiw inside of the arms?a *
Into aud the name Henry Sanderson.
The recurrence of the name Jarred
md surprised her. Hugh had dropped
t?an old keepsake of the friend who
tad Lieen his beau Ideal. Ills exemplar
ind whose ancient Influence was still
lomlnant. lie had clung loyally to the
neuiento. blind In his constant liking,
o the wrong that friend had done him
She looked at the date It was May
!8 She shuddered, for that was the
nonth and day on which I>r Morenu
lad been killed. The polut had been
?lenrl.v established today by the prose
?utlon To the original owuer of that
toss perhaps the date that had come
nto Hugh's life with such a sinister
neanlng was n glad anniversary
Suddenly she caught her bund to her
?heek. A weird Idea bail rushed
hrough her brain The religious sym
bol had stood for Harry Sanderson,
iDd the chance coincidence of date
tiad irresistibly pointed to the murder.
I'o her excited senses the Juxtaposi
tion held a bizarre, uncanny sugges
tion. This <;ross, the very emblem of
vicarious sacrifice! Suppose Harry
Sanderson had never given It to Hugh!
Suppose !ie had lost It on the hillside
himself!
Clm onn</>liA,l <i f\ f l\o iiitiini* n irti I n
OUC E>ll(l l\. llt'U U t' IUI7 "f,""1
"Who lias been for some months on a
prolonged vacation"?the phrase stared
sardonically at her. That might carry
rar hack?she said It under her breath,
tearfully?beyond the murder of Dr.
Moreau. Her face burned, and her
breath came sharp and fast. Why
when she brought her warning to the
?abiu had Hugh been so anxious to get
her away unless to prevent her sight
Df the man who was there, to whom he
iMid taken her horse? Who was there
In Smoky Mountain whom he would
protect at hazard of his own life?
Jessica's veins were all afire. A rec
tor murderer? A double career? Was
It beyond possibility? It came to her
like an impinging ray of light, the old
curious likeness that had sometimes
been made a Jest of at the white
bouse In the aspens. More :i and I'ren
tlergast had believed it ti> be Hugh.
Bo had the town, for the body had
been found on his ground P.ut on the
night when the real murderer came <
again to the cabin perhaps it was his
coming that had brought back the lost n
memory. Hugh had known t!ie truth.
In the light of this supposition, his
strained manner then, his present de
termination not to speak, all stood
plain.
What had he meant by a debt of his
past that he had never paid? He could i
owe no debt to Harry Sanderson. If l[
he owed any debt It was to his dead |
father, a thousand times more than the ^
draft he had repaid. Could he be
thinking In his remorse-that his father
had cast him ofT. counting himself
nothing, remembering only that Harry
Sanderson had tieen David Stlres' fa
vorite and St. James', which must be
smirched by the odium of its rector, j
the apple of his eye?
Jessica had snatched at a straw, be
cause it was the only buoyant thing
afloat in the dragging tide. Now with
a blind fatuousness she hugged it
tighter to her bosom. One purpose
possessed her?to confront Harry San
derson. What mntter though she
missed the remainder of the trial?
she could do nothing. Her hands were
tied. If the truth lay at Anisfon she
would find It She thought no farther
than this. Once In Harry Sanderson's
presence, what she should say or do
she scarcely Imagined. The horrify
ing question Ailed her thought to the
exclusion of all that must follow its
answer. It was surety and self con
viction she craved, only to read in his
eyes the truth about the murder of
Moreau.
She suddenly began to tremble.
Would the doctors let her see him?
What excuse could she give? If he
was the man who had been In Hugh's
cabin that night he had heard her
speak, had known she was there. He
must not Know beforehand of her com
ing lest he have suspicion of her er
rand. Bishop Ludlow, be could gain
her access to him. Injured, dying
perhaps, maybe he did not guess that
Hugh was In Jeopardy for his crime.
Guilty and dying, If be knew this, he
would surely tell the truth. But If he
died before she could reach bim? The
paper was some days old. He might
be dead already. She took heart, how
aver, from the statement of his im
proved condition.
She sprang to her feet and looked at
her chatelaine watch. The eastboand
express was overdue. There was no
time to lose. Minute* might count
She examined her purse. She had
money enough with her.
Five minutes later she wss at the
station, a scribbled note was on Its
way to Ura. Halloran, and before a
swinging red lantern the long incom
ing train was ahudderlng to a stop.
To Be Continued.
Cheerfully Adds His Endorsement.
Capt. J. E. Peterson, Goldsboro, N.
C., President of the Farmers State
Alliance of North Carolina under date
of October 19, 1908, writes: "I cheer
fully add my endorsement to the
wonderful curative powers of Dr.
Worthlngton's Southern Remedy for
bowel diseases. I commenced using
it five (6) years ago, when it was
first recommended to me. I wish
that I had heard of it forty (40) years
ago. I could bare avoided many days
of suffering and much expense. To
try it is to praise it and never be
without a bottle in your home."
Price 25cts. Guaranteed by deal
ers everewhere.
CORN WANTED.
I want to buy 6000 bushels coun
try corn at once. Will pay the mar
ket price in cash. The Cash Rack
et Co., Four Oaks, N. C.
I
' ONCE UPON A TIME'
THERE WAS AN INDIAN,
Who was taken to Massa
chusetts when four years
old. He grew up, not only
with the New England ac
cent and prejudices, but
saved his pennies to give to
missionaries that they
might convert the Red Man.
"On the plastic mind of a
child, you can make impres
sions that are indellible."'
If you will teach your child
the value of saving his pen
nies, and show him the im
portance of a growing Sav
ings Account, you need not
give yourself further con
cern about his future finan
cial salvation. It will help
him to build character, too.
His account will be wel
comed at
J5he
BANKofWAYNE
V # '
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