III! II CHAPTER XXII—(Continued.) A week passed. In that period, Corinth came to appreciate the unfalt ering growth of two conditions, not un like in character, but entirely foreign to each other. In one instance it was the devoted loyalty of Joan Bright to Eric Midthorne; in the other, the sur prising devotion of Mary Midthorne to the sick man in the Widow Payson’s cottage. There was no speculation as to the attitude of Miss Bright, but in some quarters wonder was expressed aver Mary's behavior. Corinth, in Ignorance of the real situation, found some difficulty in satisfying itself as to an imaginary one. Of course, it was known that Mary and John were in love with each other, but that was no reason why she should devote so much of her time to Adam Carr, outsider. The tnan could not be moved, but as there were two nurses in the house to at tend to him, with doctors making daily visits, it was not reasonable to suppose that Mrs. Payson dependend on Mary for assistance. Moreover, Corinth was still unable to make out whether Adam was friendly to Mary’s brother. In any event, he was distinctly at odds with Horace Blagden, which was some thing. Before the end of the week, Adam Carr recovered the potver of speech. He was hopelessly paralyzed from the waist down. At tirst he spoke with an effort, but his indomitable will power overcame the Impediment; he arti culated slowly but clearly. His mind was clear and active. He required the truth of the doctors. Getting it, he philosophized: "There’s no sense in your waiting here, Jack. I may hang on for 10 years. Doctors can’t tell anything about it, but I’m such a tenacious in dividual that it’s not likely that I’ll give up the ghost without a long light. Of course, I ought to be sensible and quit right now. Better for you, better for me, better for Mrs. Payson, better for everybody, if I could pass on to l night, but I guess it won't be so easy A uslthat. Nothing has ever been real Bmly for me. Even this won't be easy, ’if 1 were you, I’d get back to New York and business. I’ll be lying here If you can find the time week ends, to come and see your mother and Mary. 1 don’t mind it much, after all. A long rest will do me good. As you won’t hear to be being removed to a hospital and your mother won’t either, I guess I'll have to stay where I'm put. In a week or two I can be wheeled about in a chair, so it won't be so bad. (Now listen to what I've got to say; get it firmly in your mind. So far as the world is concerned, I am never to be anything more to you than Mr. Adam. That’s what I've been for 30 years. I’ve never said I was anthing else. I never will, not even to you. It won’t hurt the world any to keep on think t Ing your da’ddy is out there in the At A lan tic, and that your mother is here Instead ef up there in the little grave yard at Gloucester.’ Horace Blagden, much as he’d like to, can’t rake either of them up. He only suspects half the truth. He doesn’t know aoout poor Huey Barlow. Your mother here won’t mind being mother to you, right or wrong, till she dies. Bo just you go on thinking of me as Mr. Adam, your best friend, and I’ll keep on being your best friend. All the king’s horses and all the king's men can't drag it out of mo. When it comes time for me to die, and I know it, I may ask you to nut your ear close to my lips so that 1 can whisper it to you, but it won't be till then, and it won’t be for an body else’s ear. There’s only one oth er person that must be told. Eric’s got to know it before you make Mary your wife. "But I’m not going to make her my wife." said his son gently but firmly. “Oh, yes, you are,” said Adam de cisively. "There’s no way 'round that. Bin not as good as Philip Midthorne was, but Huey Barlow was as good as most of the Blagdens. Don’t forget that, my lad. Ask your mother. She knew her.” "Ask my mother!" repeated John A Payson, with a bitter smile. \ ”1 didn’t mean it to sound funny, Jack," said Adam humbly. A day or two later, old Jabez hob bled tin to see his son. He stood at the bedside, peering quizzically at the oc cupant, on whose lips there was a dis torted grin of welcome. "Well, father, how are you?" "Just so-so, Adam,” replied the ancient. ' "Rheumatism any better?” There was a period of silent regard. Then old Jabez found tho words he wanted. "It's a blamed shame, Adam. I don’t see why the good Ford didn't do this to me 'stead of you. It wouldn’t ha’ tua.de any difference if it had been me, but—but it don't seem right for you to be lyin' here like this an' me skippin’ about as spry as ever. It don’t seem right." "Eighty odd last January. Dang it, you ain't even GO. That’s why it's wrong.” "No,” said Adam, “your 80 odd years proves it to be right. Nature makes us pay as we go. You haven't any scores to settle with nature. That's why you're 80 odd and spry. And, now, how are the squirrels?” “Well.” said Jabez, taking the chair that had been placed for him, “they’re geltin' so blamed fresh that there ain’t no livin’ with 'em. The whole caboodle of ’em got in the house yesterday when 1 was takln’ a nap, and. dang me. if they didn’t find that barril of peanuts you sent down last month. When I woke up. by gosh. I couldn’t hardly get out of the door fer peanut shells. Fust I thought there’d been a sudden snowstorm, but they cracked so loud when I stepped on ’em I knowed it couldn’t be that. Then I got to the a, door and seen thun fool critters settin' ^ around on the grass out there in front, bo cussed fat that I thought they'd bust. They jest couldn’t w'obble. You never in ail your life, Adam, seen such idiotic lookin’ things as they wuz. A hundred of ’em! Squattln’ around the place, kinder pitful like. Cussln’ them didn’t do no good. They Jest looked back /" and twigged their tails feeble the more f I cussed. And you can’t give a suu.r, e. paregoric like you can a baby. And now you have an idea what na ture had begun to do for Jabez Carr. But I am getting ahead of my story. Adam Farr did not recover his speech until after the brief, perfunctory trial of Eric Midthorne was over and the young man stood honorably acquitted. The defendant's story was not even assailed by the commonwealth. There was no voice to dispute his claim of self defense, no witness to cast the remotest doubt upon the statement he made. The only human being who might have spoken for or against him. was pow'erle'-.s to utter an intelligible sound. When John Fa:,’son entered the sick room and calmly announced to his ii mi y 38 mother that the Jury had discharged Brie without leaving the box. and on the advice of the court himself. Adam I'arr opened his eyes and spoke aloud for the first time since he was stricken the week before. "l knew they would.” he said with an effort, but quite distinctly, to the great amazement of the doctor and the nurse. The Widow Payson and John were not surprised. They understood the in scrutable ways of the .man. The machinery of the law never worked so fast as in the case of the State vs. Eric Midthorne. Five days after lie surrendered himself to the sheriff, his case was called for hear ing. The court room was crowded, for the Courier had announced the trial day and hour. No one was there in the hope of finding fresh sensations, hut to hear the story of the fight from the lips of the victor himself. Inside the railing sat the entire bar of the city. Judge Oswald Bright came over from the capital and occupied a seat on the bench beside the court. His daughter sat with Mary Midthorne at the defendant's table. Horace Blagden and ills wife had seats so close to Eric that thev could lean forward and ffhls ner in his ear, an oft repeated act which sent a thrill of approbation through the big audience, and had a moral though utterly Wasted effect on thi Jury. The preliminaries were brief. Mr. State’s Attorney Collins road the affi davit on information and belief and called his only witness—the sheriff of the county, who merely testified that the prisoner at the bar was the man mentioned in the instrument and that he had openly confessed to the slaying of Chetwynd Blagden. The state rest ed. Tile audience leaned back with an audible breath of relief. The defense very naturally moved to quash the indictment, on tile ground that the corpus delicti had not been established, but formally withdrew the motion a m imenv later, as n, part of the program, to permit Eric Midthorne to tell his story on the stand. The audi ence listened with breathless interest to the recital, dividing its attention be tween the young man in the box and Ilie grey haired Parents of Chetwynd Blagden. watching with eager eyes for some sign of animosity on their part. If the people expected or hoped for a demonstration they were disappointed. The Blagdens sat very still and ereet. their pinched backs to the multitude, their heads twisted slightly, toward the witness, from whose face their gaze was not once removed during the un interrupted recita' At its conclusion thev turned expectantly toward the state's attorney. Horace Blagden’s figure straightened nerceptibly. A moment later his own name was called. He arose slowly— at anv other time we would have said nompously—and slipped into the wit ness box. A stir swept through the crowd. Here was a sensation, after all. Facing the judge, the great man of Corinth toi k the oath, his right hand uplifted. It did not tremble. He then testified to the reputation of the de fendant for truth and veracitv. and to his standing in the community. That was all. He gave it elearlv, unfalter 'ngly. He was not asked if he were the father of the deceased. It was as the first, citizen of Corinth that he testified, fine could have been excused for smil ing at the theatric display of seif re •mrrt t'-at overshadowed the real inten tion of the man. The great man ef Corinth was speaking. No one could have asked for more than that. Horace Blagden did not mean to place himself in a false position. He was intensely sincere in his desire to dissipate all doubts in the minds of the townspeople as to ills attit”de toward his nephew. No more convincing wav could have presented Itself, ho argued, than this opportunity to publicly re peat the sentiment embodied In his earlier newspaper expression. Adam Carr, when he heard of the net. uttered an opinion that no one else dared to voice: “Old Horace simply can’t help it. It’s born in him. When he dies, by the grace, hell lie in state. And. no mat ter how dead he is. he’ll know he's ly ing in state.” The judge instructed the 1urv to find for the defendant, and Eric was dis charged from custody almost before you could have counted 12. The whole affair was so palpably predestined that it savoured of trav esty. and yet there was a seriousness about it all that could not be mistaken. The law Itself did not come in for much consideration. So far as the real legal aspects of the case were concerned, all precedents were violated. But no one cared about that. Not a single soul In all Corinth desired the punishment of Eric Midthorne. Corinth, therefore, was Eric's trial was much the same as a wedding or a funeral—a matter of a few very important minutes and then everybody going about his own busi ness as if it hadn't occurred. The wed ding means a great deal to the fellow who is getting married, and the funeral is of the utmost importance to the chap who is being buried, but the world does not care a scrap what happens to either of them after it is all over. Most of us get married and all of us die. People come and see us do both, if the oppor tunity presents itself, and go away thoroughly satisfied that it is the end of the matter so far as they are con cerned. Corinth would have stepped up and congratulated Eric on his acquittal if it couiil have done so with propriety. But there had been ample time for reflec tion. The magnanimous Blagdens were to be considered. How would it appear to them if everyone rushed up to shal.a hands with the destroyer of their only son? Dreadful! So Corinth, or as much of it as e*uld be crowded into the courtroom, considerately effaced itself as soon as the verdict was given. While the crowd was leaving the courtroom, the judge on the bench calmly turned to the clerk and said: “Call the next case. Mr. Clerk." The regular panel remained in the Jury box; the sheriff went over to the telephone and called up the gaol; and half an hour luter a dissolute sailor from the water front was on trial for stealing a pound of tobacco, and the state's attorney was working his head off, so to speak, to secure the maximum penalty. One lias to make an example of such chaps, you see. Society de mands it. * • • • • • The Rev. Mr. Presbrey alone came forward to congratulate Eric, regard less of the presence of the Blagdens or the fitness of the occasion. With tears in Ids eyes, he wrung the embarrassed young man’s hand with a vigor that suggested something long pent-up and thriving. “Thank you, Mr. Presbrey,” muttered Eric, very uncomfortable. "We’ve been praying for you, Eric,” *ald Mr. Presgrey: “Mrs. Presbrey and I. Ah, my dear young friend, you do not know how greatly this will pleasa my wife, your most devoted friend. She Is indisposed today. Otherwise she would have accompanied me here. But her heart is here, her thoughts ure here.” "Good morning, Arthur,” said Horace Blagden pleasantly. "1 am sorry to hear that Julia is ill. Nothing serious, I hope.” Mr. Presbrey’s eyes flew wide open. He stared for a moment. Then his face turned a deep pink. "Not at all, not at all,” he stammered, completely taken aback. "Merely a cold, Mr. Blagden. In the head." "Please remember us to her," said Mr. Blagden, slipping his arm through Eric’s. "Oh. by-the-by, Arthur,” he went on after an instant’s reflection, "will it be convenient for you to drop in to see me at the bank tomorrow? Any hour will do. I want to talk over a question In connection with the new library.” Mr. Presbrey stiffened. “I have read something about it.” he said. "Do you think Julia will be well enough to come to dinner tomorrow evening?” asked Mrs. Blagden. "Then you two could have the whole evening to yourselves in the library.’ ’ "Good!” said her husband genially. "And we could have the architect there to assist us. What do you say, Pres brey?” Mr. Presbrey’s face was a study. "I—I—dear me. dear me!” he fal tered. nervously fumbling for his hand kerchief. Finding it, lie blew his nosa rather aimlessly and then repeated: "Dear me!” They were waiting for an answer. He cleared his throat. “Really. f—I—yes, yes, it's very good of you, X am sure. Dear me! Of course, you understand, it is only a cold In the head. I fancy she will be quite rid of )t. by tomorrow. Mustard foot bath to night. Yes. yes! Hot mustard for a cold head—cold in the head, 1 should say. Dear me! It will seem quite lika old times, my dear friends.” Horace was enjoying himself. After wards he confessed to a certain mean ness of spirit, a delicious sensation of malice; but quitq pardonable, ha argued, in view of the fact that he was returning good for evil. Eric, the only other witness beside Mrs. Blagden, ac tually felt sorry for the distressed ex ••Except that we all have grown older and wiser,” supplemented Mr. Blagden. Mr. Fresbrey made haste to accept the amendment. "And better, I hope,” he said. He did not know it, but that was a master-stroke. As a matter of fact, in repeating the amazing conver sation to his wife, he quite forgot to mention the remark. "We dine at 7, Mr. Fresbrey,” said Mrs. Blagden. He responded bravely. "Instead of G:3U?” Ah. Here was tribute to the memory of old times! "I shall also ask Mr. King to come In,” said Horace, in the most matter-of fact way. Mr. Fresbrey drew a long breath. “I shall rejoice in the opportunity to meet him,” he said desperately. "You said 0:30?” "Seven.” said Horace. Then, as If recognizing an oversight, he extended his hand. Mr. Fresbrey was on the point of blowing ids nose again. He hastily switched the handkerchief to his left hand, and clasped the ends of Mr. Blagden’s fingers in his right. It was not much of a hand-shake, but it seemed to put new life into him. At least, he breathed with less difficulty. He went home to Julia in a perfect maze of bewilderment. She not only took a mustard foot bath externally but nine grains of quinine the other way. In the corridor of the courthouse, Eric, walking between his uncle and aunt with his arms through theirs, burst out feelingly: “Uncle Horace, you are wonderful, really wonderful.” Mr. Blagden smiled, self-satisfied. “Paying off all the old scores, Eric,” he Bald gravely. A little group was waiting for them at the top of the stairway. John Pay son quietly detached' himself from the rest and started downstairs as they ap proached. “Just a moment. John, if you please,” said Mr. Blagden, raising his voice slightly. “This is a day for renewing old acquaintances, old friendships. Will you shake hands, sir?” Payson did not hesitate. He clasped the banker’s hand. "Certainly, Bir. Is this your verdict?” Mr. Blagden was puzzled. He looked into the young man’s steady eyes for a moment: then the doubt was lifted from his own. “It is.” he said cucclnctly, and Pay son knew that at last he was acquitted of complicity in the bank defalcation. An instant later Horace remarked: "I am a Just man. By-the-by,” he went on. “how Is Adam Carr today?” “There is no change, Mr. Blagden, I am sorroy to say. He will never speak again, sir.” Then Horace Blagden uttered a re markable prophecy. (Continued next week.) MAY LEAD AN ARMY AGAINST THE SERBS crown Prince Boris of Bulgarin. According to cabled reports Crown Prince Boris of Bulgaria, who is barely past twenty-ona vanra nf a will command a B the threatened war becomes fact and an invasion of Serbia takes place. The prince was very active in the Balkan war against Turkey and even more so in the second Balkan war when Greece, Serbia and Roumania combined against Bulgaria. Crown Prince Boris is extremely popular with his people and his appointment as com mander of an army division met witi general approval. i f ♦ ♦♦•»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦»♦»»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦+•» ;f ♦ ' *■ SOLDIERS OF A REPUBLIC. ♦ From an Interview With General Joffre by Owen Johnson In Collier’s Weekly. Where it nation Is truly republican I