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Gordon smiled at James "God bless you, boy!" he said

"What possible difference do you think that could irl help it?"

"Of course she could not, but soirl who came of such stock on her father's side"

"I am not one of those men"

"No, I don't think you are, but it is only my duty to put the case

plainly before you That man as buried this afternoon was simply

unspeakable He was asister, Clemency's

mother, suffered in her brief life with hi! Don't I know Cle whatever to fear Clee as far as looks go, and as

far as I can judge in the innerhtest taint froh God knows I

have watched for it with horror as the years have passed After she was

born I save out word that the child had

died at the same time with the mother There was a private funeral, and

the casket was closed I had hard work to carry it through successfully,

for I was young in those days, and broken-hearted at losing h I did, and no one knew except a nurse I trusted

her, I was obliged to do so, and I fear that she has betrayed me I

established a practice in another town in another State, and there I met

Clara She has told me that she informed you of the fact that she wasit Just before ere

married I becaained

in some way information that led him to suspect, if not to be absolutely

certain, that his child had not died with his wife I had a ed

sister, Mrs Ewing, who lived in Ioith her only daughter just about

Clee she decided to reland to live with some relatives of her deceased husband They had

considerable property, and she had very little I begged her to go

secretly, or rather to hint that she was going East to live with e, so far as I kneas

aware of the fact that land, and

not East to live with me Clara and I were married privately in an

obscure little Western hamlet, and ca driven froer of

Cle the truth; and , and Clehter It has been a life of

constant watchfulness and deception, and I have been bound hand and

foot Even had Clely careful that it

would have been difficult to reach hial methods, there was the

poor child to be considered, and the ignominy which would come upon her

at the exposure of her father I have done what I could I am naturally

a s to lead a life

with its s open and shades up, but I have been forced into the

very reverse My life has been as closely shuttered and curtained as ed to force my oife to live after the same

fashion Now the cause for this secrecy is removed, but as far as she is

concerned, the truth must still be concealed for Clemency's sake It

must not be known that that dead o one thread of the mystery the whole fabric will

unravel Poor Clara can never be acknowledged openly as my wife, the

best and most patient wife a man ever had, and under a heavier sentence

of death this enuity of roaned, and let his head sink upon his hands

"She told ly

"Ill? She has been upon the executioner's block for years It is not

illness; that is too taed as

only the evil forces of Nature herself can prolong it"

Gordon rose and shook hi her now almost

constantly under morphine," he said "She has suffered more lately The

attacks have been htest

possibility of a surgical operation From the very first it was utterly

hopeless, and if it had been the dog there, I should have put a bullet

through his head and considered azed with

lad that the direct cause of

that ht have been," he said

He shook hihed a h "Well," he said, "Cleo her ways as

she will You see she reseuard her froht of her father He would have known the

truth at once Clemency is free, but I have paid an awful price for her

freedom and for your life If I had not done what you doubtless know I

did that night, you would have been shot, and it would have been a

struggle betweenkilled, and Clara and the girl left defenseless His revolver

carried six deaths in it It would all have depended upon the quickness

of the dog, and I should have left tooupon that"

"I don't see what else you could do," James said in a low voice He was

pale himself He did not blame Gordon He felt that he himself, in

Gordon's place, would have done as he had done, and yet he felt as if

faced close to a horror of murder and death, and he knew from the look

upon the other man's countenance that it was the same with him

"I saw no other way," Gordon said in a broken voice, "but--but I don't

knohether I am a murderer or an executioner, and I never shall know

God help h, "what is done, is done Let us

go to bed"

James said when they parted at his rooht

"Yes, she will," replied Gordon quietly Then he gave the young man's

hand a warm clasp "God bless you!" he whispered "If this had turned

you against the child, it would have driven me madder than I am now I

love her as if she were my own You and your loyalty are all I have to

hold to"

"You can hold to that to the end," Jaht have looked at his own father

Late as it was, he wrote that night to his own father and ement to Clemency There now can be no possible

need for secrecy with regard to it Jaue sense

of horror, felt an exhilaration at the thought that now all could be

above board, that the shutters could be flung open He felt as if an

incubus had rolled from hisof the sa She appeared at the

breakfast-table the next o with

you on your rounds," she said to James She beamed, and yet there was a

troubled and puzzled expression on her pretty face When she and Ja the country road, she said

suddenly, "Will you tell ?"

James hesitated

"Will you?" she repeated

"I can't promise, dear," he said

"Why not?" she asked pettishly

"Because it ht to tellif--if--" she hesitated, and blushed

"If what?" asked James tenderly

She nestled up to him "If you--feel toward ht to tellI don't want to be kissed"

"Well, what is that you want to know, dear?"

"Will you promise to tell me?"

"No, dear, I can't pro you harm"

"Who was thatme and Uncle Tom, and why have I been compelled to

stay housed as if I were a prisoner so er, dear, fro ht and looked at

Jalowed "Who was the man?" she

asked peremptorily

"I can't tell you, dear"

"But you know"

"Yes"

"Why can't you tell ed her shoulders "Why did he hunt me so?"

"I can't tell you, dear"

"But you know"

"I am not sure"

"But you think you know"

"Yes"

"Then tell me"

"I can't, dear"

"When will you tell ain she blushed "You will tell me

after--we are-- then," she

whispered

James shook his head

"Won't you then?"

"No, dear, I shall never tell you while I live"

Clerasp at the reins "Then I will never marry

you," she said "I will never s froht to know, dear"

"I ought to know this!"

Jaht the horse to a full stop

"Won't you ever tell et out This is Annie Lipton's street I a tih now You can tell me that much?"

"Yes, it is, but Cle to ht that ere going to get ain and tell theet out Good-by! I shall not be home to

luncheon I shall stay with Annie I like her very much better than I

like you"

With that Cley and hurried up a street

without looking back James drove on He felt disturbed, but not

seriously so It was i It was so whi with her, but he went on with a little shtly did he estier, that she would not keep her word, and would be home for luncheon

But when he returned she was not there, and she had not co

"Why, where is Cle-roo to see her friend Miss Lipton," said Jaave one of her

sharp, baffled glances at hi served the two men, she

tossed her head and went out Nobody kne much she wished to listen

at the kitchen door, but she was above such a course

"Clemency and I had a bit of a tiff," James explained to Gordon "She

seemed vexed because I would not tell her what you told ht

She is curious to know more about--that man"

"She must not know," Gordon said quickly "Never et over it I know Clenation against one she loves is not

in the child, and shefor

her to know I h of a horror as it is,

but to have that child look at me, and think--" Gordon broke off

abruptly