Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1914 — Page 7

The Hollow of Her Hand

SYNOPSIS. ?®^ A £J E . R I—ChalMa Wrandall Is founi lurdered In a road house near N«* orlc Mrs. Wrandall Lb summoned from city and identifies the body. A younjr iroman who accompanied Wrandall to the s-s* wSan ssssrsi.vn €**,«?„ a " d neglected his wife. Mrs. Wrandall starts back for New York In an auto during a blinding enow storm. II—On the way she meets a young woman In the road who proves to fa the woman who killed Wrandall. FeelJngr that the girl had done her a service in ridding her of the man who, though she loved him deeply, had caused her Si eat sorrow, Mrs. Wrandall determines to shield her and takes her to her own home. CHAPTER I'll—MYs. Wrandall hears the story of Hetty Castleton’s life, n®*P‘ t 'L at Portion that relates to Whudall. The story of the tragedy she forMds the girl ever to tell her. She offers Hetty a home, friendship and security trom peril on account of the tragedy. / ' 1‘ i'KR IV—Mrs. Sara Wrandall and ’’ ’ i V-attend the funeral of Challis Wranf a , r ~;e home of his parents. Sara ' '-"'ays h-’-’n treated as an Interloper the snobbish Wrandall family, but tile tragedy seems to draw them closer together. CHAPTER V—Sara Wrandall and Hetty return to New York after an absence of a year in Europe. Leslie Wrandall. brother of Challis. makes himself useful to Sara and becomes greatly Interested In Hetty. CHAPTER Vl—Hetty Is greatly pained at Sara s evident desire to encourage Leslie s attentions. Sara sees in Leslie's Infatuation possibility for revenge on the Wrandails and reparation for the wrongs she suffered at the hands of Chalfls Wrandall by marrying his murderess Into the family. .CHAPTER Vll—Leslie. In company h Sa£a e Tt' I '>, Brandon Booth - ar > artist visits Sara at her country place Leslie wfthHetty° Sara that he 13 madly ,n lo ”® CHAPTER Vnl—Sara arranges with Booth to paint a picture of Hetty. Booth lias a haunting feeling that he has seen Hetty before. Looking through a portfolio of pictures by an unknown English artist he finds one of Hetty. He speaks to her about it. Hetty declares It must oe a picture of Hetty Glynn, an English actress, who resembles her very much. -ro < r^f TE ' l ?. I X_L « sl,e Wrandall beF« at ent j 1 " 11 -l ealou s over the picand decla res he Is going to propose to Hetty at the first opportunity and have It over with. CHAPTER X—Much to his chagrin "Leslie is refused hv Hetty. Sara, between whom and Hetty a strong mutual affection has grown up. tries to persuade the girl that she should not let the tragedy prevent her from marrying. CHAPTER Xl—Booth and Hetty confess their love for each other, but the .latter declares that she can never marry as there is an insurmountable barrier In the way. She promises that some day •he will tell her secret and that then "Booth will not want to marry her. CHAPTER Xll—Hetty admits to Ssra that She loves Rooth. Sara declares that Hetty must marry Leslie., who must he made to pay his brother’s debt to the girl. Hetty again attempts to tell the real story of the tragedy and Sara threatens to strangle her if she says a word. Sara insults Hetty by revealing that all this time she has believed Hetty to have sinned in her relations with Challis Wrandall. Tn the end she realtzes that Hetty ls entirely Innocent. CHAPTER XllT—Leslie again proposes to Hetty and is rejected. Hetty prepares to Jeave Sara, declaring that after wha» has happened she can remain no longer. Leslie’s rejection causes consternation in the Wrandall family.

CHAPTER XIV. Crossing the Channel, i Booth, restless with a vague uneasiness that had come over him during ithe night, keeping him awake until nearly dawn, was hard put during the early hours of the forenoon to find occupation for his interest until a seasonable time arrived for appearing at Southlook. He was unable to account for this feeling of uncertainty and irritation. At nine he set out to walk over to Southlook, realizing that he should have to spend an hour in profitless gossip with the lodge keeper before presenting himself at the villa, but somehow relishing the thought that even so he would be nearer to Hetty than if he remained in his own dooryard. Half-way there we was overtaken by Sara’s big French machine returning from the village. The car came to a standstill ae he stepped aside to let it pass, and Sara herself leaned over and cordially invited him to get in and ride home with her. “What an early bird you are,” he exclaimed as he took his seat beside her. She was not in a mood for airy persiflage, as he soon discovered. “Mise Castleton has gone up to town, Mr. Booth,” she said rather lifelessly. “I have just taken her to the station. She caught the eightthirty.” He was at once solicitous. “No bad news, I hope?” There was no thought in his mind that her absence was other than temporary. "She is not coming back, Brandon.” She had not addressed him as Brandon before. He stared. “You —you mean—” The words died on his lips. “She is not coming back,” she repeated. An accusing gleam leaped into his eyes. “ What has happened, Mrs. Wrandall?” he asked.

by George Barr McCutcheon

Author of “Gran, star kT ~’B*uxtan KtagTetc. ILLUJimiCRS by HimsUETOOHG v cornaawr- 191 - bY GEORGE BAKU M°CUTCHEBB COPYRIGHT .1911 BY COHBUfIf

She was quick to perceive the change in his voice and manner. “She prefers to live apart from me. That is all.” “When was this decision reached?" “But yesterday. Soon after she came in from her walk with you.” “Do—do you mean to imply that that had anything to do with her leaving your home?” he demanded, with a flush on his cheek. She met his look without flinching. “It was the beginning.” “You—you criticised her? You took her to task—” "I notified her that she was to marry Leslie Wrandall if she marries anyone at all,” 6he said in a perfectly level tone. “Good Lord, Mrs. Wrandall!” “But she is not going to marry Leslie.” “I know it—l knew it yesterday,” he cried triumphantly. “She loves me, Sara. Didn’t she say as much to you?” “Yes, Brandon, she loves you. But she will not be your wife.” “What is all this mystery? Why can’t she be my wife? What is there to prevent?’ 11 She regarded him with dark, inscrutable eyes. Many second© passed before she spoke. "Would you want her for your wife if you knew she had belonged to another man ?” He turned very cold. The palms of his hands were wet, as with ice-water. Something dark seemed to flit before his eyes. “I will not fielieve that of her,” he said, shaking his head with an air of finality. “That is not an answer to my question.” “Yes, I would still want her,” he declared steadily. “I merely meant to put you to the harshest test,” she said, and there was

“She—What?” Gasped Leslie’s Mother.

relief in her voice. “She is a good girl, she is pure. I asked my question because until yesterday I had reason to doubt her.” “Good heavens, how could you doubt those honest, guiltless eyes of—’.’ She shook her head sadly. “To answer you I would have to reveal the secret that makes it impossible for her to become your wife, and that I cannot, will not do.” “Is it fair to me?" “Perhaps not, but it is fair to her, and that is why I must remain silent” "Before God, I shall know the truth —from her, if not from you—and—” “If you love her, if you will be kind to her, you will let her go her way In peace.” He tvas struck by the somewhat sinister earnestness of her words. "Tell me where I may find her,” he said, setting his Jaw. “It will not be difficult for you to find her,” she said, frowning, “if you insist on pursuing her.” “You drive her away from your house, Sara Wrandall, and yet you expect me to believe that your motives are friendly. Why should I accept your word as final?" “I did.not drive her away, nor did I ask her to stay.” < He stared hard at her. “GoojJ Lord, what is the meaning of all this?” he cried in perplexity? “What am I to understand?” The car had come to a stop under', the porte cochere. She laid her hand on his arm. “If you will come in with me, Brandon, I will try to make things clear to you.” He left in half an hour, walking rapidly down the drive, his coat buttoned closely, although the morning was hot. and breathless. He held in his hand a small scrap of paper on which was written: “If I loved you less, I would come to you now and lie to you. If you love me, Brandon, you will let me go my way. it is the only course. Sa?a is my .friend, and she is yours.

Be guided 'hy her, and bfelleve Trl my lore for you. Hetty." • •••••• And now, as things go in fairy stories, we should prepare ourselves to see Hetty pass through a season in drudgery and hardship, with the ultimate quintessence of joy as the reward for her trials and tribulations. Happily, this is not a fairy tale. There are some things more fantastic than fairy tales, if they are not spoiled in the telling. Hetty did not go forth to encounter drudgery, disdain and obUxjuy. By no manner of means! She went with a well-filled purse, a definite purpose ahead and a determined factor behind. In a manner befitting her station as the Intimate friend of Mrs. Challis Wrandall, as the cousin of the Murgatroyds, as the daughter of Colonel Castleton of the Indian corps, as a person supposed to be possessed of independent means withal, she went, with none to queetion, none to cavil. Sara had insisted on this, as much for her own sake as for Hetty’s; she argued, and she had prevailed in the end. What would the world think, what would their acquaintances think, and above all what would the high and mighty W T randalls think if she went with meek and lowly mien? WTiy should they make it possible for anyone to look askance? And so it was that ehe departed in state, with a dozen trunks and boxes; an obsequiously attended seat in the parlor car was here; a telegram in her bag assured her that rooms were being reserved for herself and maid at the alongside it reposed a letter to Mr. Carroll, instructing him to provide her with sufficient funds to carry out the plan agreed upon; and in the seat behind sat the lady’s maid who had served her for a twelvemonth and more. The timely demise of the venerable Lord Murgatroyd afforded the most natural excuse for her trip to England. The old nobleman gave up the ghost, allowing for difference in time, at the very moment when - Mrs. Redmond Wrandall was undoing a certain package from London, which turned out to be a complete history of what his forbears had done in the way of propagation since the fourteenth century. Hetty did not find it easy to accommodate her pride to the plan which was to give her a fresh and rather imposing start in the world. She was to have a full year in which to determine whether she should accept toil and poverty as her lot, or emulate the symbolic example of Dicky, the canary bird. At the end of the year, unless ehe did as Dicky had done, her source of supplies would be automatically cut off and she would be entirely dependent upon her own wits and resources. In the interim she was a probationary person of leisure. It had required hours of persuasion on the part of Sara Wrandall to bring her into line with these arrangements. “But I am able and willing to work for my living,” had been Hetty’s stubborn retort to all the arguments brought to bear upon her. “Then let me put it in another light, It is vital to me, of course, that you should keep up the show of affluence for a while at least. I think I have made that clear to you. But here is another side to the matter; the question of recompense.”

“Recompense?” cried Hetty sharply. “Without your knowing it, I have virtually held you a prisoner all these months, condemned in my own Judgment if not in the sight of the law. I have taken the law unto myself. You were not convicted of murder in this Unitarian court of mine, but of another sin. For fifteen months you have been living under the shadow of a crime you did not commit. I Wae reserving complete punishment for you in the shape of an ignoble marriage, which was to have served two bitter ends. Well, I had the truth from you. I believe you to be absolutely innocent of the charge 1 held over you, for which I condemned you without a hearing. Then, why should I not employ my own means of making restitution?” “You have condescended to believe In me. That is all I ask.” “True, that is all you ask. But is it altogether the fair way out of it? To illustrate: our criminal laws are lees kind to the innocent than to the guilty. Our law courts find a man guilty and he is sent to prison. Later on, he is found to be Innocent—absolutely innocent. What does the state do in the premises? It issues a formal pardon—a mockery, pure and simple—and the man is set free. It all comes to a curt, belated apology for an error on the part of justice. No eubstantial recompense is offered. He is merely pardoned for something he didn’t do. The state, which has wronged him, condescends to pardon him! Think of it! It is the same as if a man knocked another down and then said, before he removed his foot from the victim’s neck: ‘I pardon you freely;’ My father was opposed to the system we have —that all countries have —of pardoning men who have been unjustly condemned. The innocent victim is pardoned in the same manner as the guilty one who comes in for clemency. I accept my father’s contention that an innocent man should not be shamed and .humiliated! by a pardon. * The court which tried him should reopen the case and honorably acquit him bf the crime. Then the state should pay to this innocent man, dollar for dollar, all that he might have earned during hie term of imprisonment, with an additional amount for the suffering he has endured. Not long ago in an adjoining state a man, who had served seventeen years of a life sentence for murder, was found to be wholly innocent. What happened? A pardon was handed to him and he walked out of prison, broken in spirit, health and purse. His small fqrtune had been

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wiped out in the futile effort lo prove his Innocence. He gave up seventeen years of his life and then was pardoned for the sacrifice. He should have been paid for every day spent in

He Stood Looking Down Into Her Serious Blue Eyes.

prison. That was the very least they could have done.” “I see now what you mean,” mused Hetty. “I have never thought of It In that way before.” “Well, it comes to this in our case, Hetty: I have tried you all over again in my own little court and I have acquitted you of the charge I had against you. I do not offer you a silly pardon. You must allow me" to have my way in this matter, to choose my own meape of compensating you for—” “You saved my life,” protested Hetty, shaking her head obstinately. “My dear, I appreciate the fact that you are English,” said Sara, with a weary smile, “but won’t you please see the point?” Then Hetty smiled too, and the way was easier after that for Sara. She gained her quixotic point; and Hetty went away from Southlook feeling that no woman in all the world was so bewildering as Sara Wrandall. When she sailed for England, two days later, the newspapers announced that the beautiful and attractive Miss Castleton was returning to her native land on account of the death of Lord Murgatroyd, and would spend the year on the continent, where probably she would be joined later on by Mrs. Wrandall, whose period of mourning and distress had been softened by the constant and loyal friendship of “this exquisite Englishwoman.” Four hundred miles out at sea she was overtaken by wireless messages from three persons. Brandon Booth’s message said: “I am sailing tomorrow on a faster ship than yours. You will find me waiting for you on the landing stage.” Her heart gave a leap to dizzy heights, and, try as she would, she could not ciush It back to the depths in which It had dwelt for days. The second bit of pale green paper contained a cry from a most unexpected source: “Cable your London address. 8. refuses to give it to me. I think I understand the situation. Wq want to make amends for what yon luuJ to nut.ua with -during the

year She has shown her true nature a, last.” It was signed “Leslie.”, (TO BE CONTINUED.)

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