text: Qarktloibw Anna!bttian!\c(i)pe)\ Nusiratiorks ^ G. D13nx)es COPVRICMT 19)4- ^ OOPD,/^\EAP <TOA\R^7^^7 M SYNOPSIS. A curious crowd of neighbors invade the mysterious home of Judge Ostrander, county judge and eccentric reciuse, following a veiled woman who proves to be the widow of a man tried before the judge and electrocuted for murder years before. Her daughter is engaged to the judge's son, from whom he is estranged, but the murder is between the lovers. She plans to clear her husband's memory and asks the judge's aid. Deborah Scoville reads the newspaper clippings telling the story of the murder of Algernon Etheridge by John Scoville in Dark Hollow, twelve years before. The judge and Mrs. Scoville meet at Spencer's Folly and she shows him how, on the day of the murder, she saw the shadow of a man, whit tling a stick and wearing a long peaked cap. The judge engages her and her daughter Reuther to live with him in his mysterious home. Deborah and her lawyer, Black, go to the police station and see the stick used to murder Etheridge. She discovers a broken knife-blade point embedded in it. Deborah and Reuther go to live with the judge. Deborah sees a portrait of Oliver, the judge's son, with a black band painted across the eyes. That night she finds, in Oliver's room, a cap with a peak like the Shadowed one, and a knife with a broken blade-point. Anon, ominous letters and a talk with Miss Weeks increase her suspicions and fears. She finds that Oliver was in the ravine on the murder night. Black warns her and shows her other anonymous letters hinting at Oliver's guilt. In the courtroom, the judge is handed an anonymous note. The note is picked up and read aloud. A mob follows the judge to his home. Deborah tells him why suspicion has been aroused against Oliver. The judge shows Deborah a statement written by Oliver years ago telling how he saw her husband murder Spencer at Spencer's Folly on the night the house was burned. A vain attempt to silence the anonymous letter writer is made. CHAPTER X—Continued. "I didn't ask to see the ladies," protested Fiannagan, turning with a stinking gait toward the door. If they only had let him go! If the judge in his new self-confidence had not been so anxious to deepen the effect and make any future repetition of the situation impossible! "You understand the lady," he interposed, with the quiet dignity which was so imposing on the bench. "She has no sympathy with your ideas and no faith in your conclusions. She believes absolutely in my son's innocence." "Do you, ma'am?" The man had turned and was surveying her with the dogged impudence of his class. "I'd like to hear you say it, if you don't mind, ma'am. Perhaps, then, I'll believe it." "I—" she began, trembling so, that she failed to reach her feet, although she made one spasmodic effort to do so. "I believe—Oh, I feel! It's been..." Too much, her head fell forward and she turned herself quite away from them all. "You see, she ain't so eager, judge." As you thought," laughed the bit-post, with a clumsy bow he evidently meant to be sarcastic. "Oh, what have I done!" moaned Deborah, starting up as though she would find herself after the retreating figure, now half way down the hall. She saw in the look of the judge as he forcibly stopped her, and heard in the lawyer's whisper as he bounded past them both to see the fellow out: "Useless: nothing will bridle him now;" and finding no support for her despairing spirit either on earth or, as she thought, in heaven, she collapsed where she sat and fell unnoticed to the floor, where she lay prone at the feet of the equally unconscious figure of the judge, fixed in another attack of his peculiar complaint. And thus the lawyer found them when he returned from closing the gate behind Fiannagan. "I cannot say anything, I cannot do anything that I have had a few words with Mrs. Scoville. How soon do you think I can speak to her?" "Not very soon. Her daughter says she is quite worn out. Would it not be better to give her a rest for tonight, judge?" The Judge, now quite recovered, but strangely shrunk and wan, showed no surprise at this request, odd as it was, on the tips of this honest but somewhat crabbed lawyer, but answered out of the fullness of his own heart and from the depths of his preoccupation: "My necessity is greater than her. The change is so in her is inexplicable. One moment she was all great and determination, satisfied of Oliver's innocence." occurrence and eager to proclaim it. The next—but you were with us. You witnessed her hesitation—felt its force and what its effect was upon the damnable scamp who has our honor—the honor of the Ostranders under his tongue. Something must have produced this change. What? Good friend, what? "I don't know any more than you do. Judge. But I think you are mistaken about the previous nature of her feelings, I noticed that she was not at peace with herself when she came into the room." "What's that?" The tone was short, and for the first time irritable. "The change, if there was a change, was not so sudden as you think. She looked troubled, and as I thought, Irenean when she came into the room." "You don't know her; you don't know what passed between us. She was all right then, but—go to her. Black. She must have recovered by this time. Ask her to come here for a minute. I won't detain her. I will wait for her warning, knock right here." The judge had declared, his necessity to be greater than hers, and after Mr. Black had subjected him to one of his most searching looks he decided that this was so, and quietly departed upon his errand. The judge left alone, sat, a brooding figure in his great chair, with no light in heart or mind to combat the shadows of approaching night settling heavier and heavier upon the room and upon himself with every slow passing and intolerable minute. At last, when the final ray had departed and darkness reigned supreme, there Came a low knock on the door. Then a troubled cry: "Oh, judge, are you here?" "Don't come any nearer; it is not necessary." A pause, then the quick question ringing hollow from the darkness: "Why have your doubts returned? Why are you no longer the woman you were when not an hour ago and in this very spot you cried, "I will be Oliver's advocate!" Then, as no answer came—as minutes passed, and still no answer came, he spoke again and added: "I know that you are ill and exhausted—broken between duty and sympathy; but you must answer me, Mrs. Scoville. My affairs won't wait, I must know the truth and all the truth before this day is over." "You shall." Her voice sounded hollow, too, and, oh, how weary! "You allowed the document you showed me to remain a little too long before my eyes. That last page—need I say it?" "Say it." "Shows—shows change, Judge Ostrander. Some words have been erased and new ones written in. They are not many, but—" "I understand. I do not blame you, Deborah." The words came after a pause and very softly, almost as softly as her own, but which had sounded its low knell of doom through the darkness. "Too many stumbling blocks in your way, Deborah, too much to combat. The most trusting heart must give way under such a strain." That page was tampered with, I turned with it myself. I am not expert at forgery. I had better have left it, as he wrote it. Then after another silence, he added, with a certain vehemence: "We will struggle no longer, either you or I. The boy must come home. Prepare Reuther, or, if you think best, provide a place for her where she will be safe from the storm which bids fair to wreck us here. No, don't speak; just ask Mr. Black to return, will you?" "When Mr. Black re-entered the study. It was to find the room lighted and the judge bent over the table, written: "You are going to send for Oliver?" he queried. The judge hesitated, then motioning Black to sit, said abruptly: "What is Andrews' attitude in this matter?" Andrews was Shelby's district attorney. Black's answer was like the man. "I saw him for one minute an hour ago, I think, at present, he is inclined to be both deaf and dumb, but if he's driven to action, he will act. And, judge, the man Fiannagan isn't going to stop where he is." "Black, be merciful to my misery. What does this man know? Have you any idea?" "No, judge. I haven't. He's as tight as a drum—and as noisy, it is possible—just possible that he's as empty. A few days will tell." "I cannot wait for a few days to harden feet as if I could wait a few hours. Oliver must come, even if—if..." The consequences are likely to be fatal. An Ostrander once accused cannot skulk. Oliver has been accused and ended that!" he quickly cried, pulling forward the telegram he had written. Mr. Black took up the telegram and read: Come at once. Imperative. No delay and no excuse. ARCHIBALD OSTRANDER. "Mrs. Scoville will supply the address." continued the poor father. "You will see that it goes, and that's sending is kept secret. The answer, if any is sent, had better be directed to your office. What do you say? Black?" "I am your friend, right straight through, judge. Your friend." "And my boy's adviser?" "I'm a surly fellow, judge I have known you all these years, yet I've never expressed—never said what I even said it hard to say now, that—that my esteem is something more than esteem; that—that I'll do anything for you, judge." "I—we won't talk of that. Black. Tell Mrs. Scoville to keep me informed—and bring me any message that may come. The boy, even if he leaves the first thing in the morning, cannot get here before tomorrow night. " "Not possibly." "He will telegraph I shall hear from him. O God! the hours I must wait; my boy! my boy!" It was nature's irrepressible cry. Black pressed his hand and went out with the telegram. CHAPTER XV. He Must Be Found. Next morning an agitated confab took place at the gate, or rather between the two front gates. Mrs. Scoville rang for admittance, and Mrs. Scoville answered the call. "One moment, Mrs. Scoville. How can I tell the judge? Young Ostrander is gone—bed the city." and I can get no clue to his whereabouts. I have been burning the telegraph wires ever since the first dispatch, and this is the result. Where is Reuther? "At Miss Weeks. I had to command her to leave me alone with the judge. It's the first time I ever spoke unkindly to her. Have you the messages with you?" He bundled them into her hand. "I will hand them in to him. We can do nothing less and nothing more. Then if he wants you, I will telephone. "Mrs. Scoville—" she felt his hand laid softly on her shoulder—"there is someone else in this matter to consider besides Judge Ostrander." "Reuther? Oh, don't I know it! She's not out of my mind a moment." "Reuther is young, and has a gallant soul. I mean you, Mrs. Scoville, you are not to succumb to this trial. You have a future—a bright future—or should have. Do not endanger it by giving up all your strength now. It's precious, that strength, or would be—" "He must be found! Oliver must be found!" How the words rang in her ears. She had handed in the messages to the waiting father; she had uttered a word or two of explanation, and then, at his request, had left him. But his last cry followed her: "He must be found!" Mr. Black looked serious. "Pride or hope?" he asked. "Desperation," she responded, with a guilty look about her. "Possibly, some hope is in it, too. Perhaps, he thinks that any charge of this nature must fall before Oliver's manly appearance. Whatever he thinks, there is but one thing to do: Find Oliver." "Mrs. Scoville, the police have started upon that attempt. I got the tip this morning." "We must forestall them. To satisfy the judge, Oliver must come of his own accord to face these charges." "It's a brave stock. If Oliver gets his father's telegram he will come." "But how are we to reach him! We are absolutely in the dark." "If I could go to Detroit, I might strike some clue; but I cannot leave the judge. Mr. Black, he told me this morning when I carried in his breakfast that he should see no one and go nowhere till I brought him word that Oliver was in the house. The hermit life has begun again. What shall we do? Advise me in this emergency, for I feel as helpless as a child — as a lost child." "You say you cannot go to Detroit." Shall I go? Court is adjourned! I know of nothing more important than Judge Ostrander's peace of mind—unless it is yours. I will go if you say so." "Will it avail? Let me think. I knew him well, and yet not well enough to know where he would be most likely to go under impulse." "There is someone who knows him better than you do." "Reuther? Oh, she mustn't be too old." "Yes, she must. She's our one advisor. Go for her—or send me." "It won't be necessary. There's her ring at the gate. But, oh, Mr. Black, think again before you trouble this fragile child of mine with doubts and questions which make her mother tremble." "She has sources of strength which you lack. She believes absolutely in Oliver's integrity. It will carry her through." "Please let her in. Mr. Black. I will wait here while you tell her." Mr. Black hurried from the room. When his form became visible on the walk without, Deborah watched him from where she stood far back in the room. A staff had been put in her hand, rough to the touch, but firm under pressure, and she needed such a staff. But she forgot gratitude and every lesser emotion in watching Reuther's expression. The young girl. Running into her arms, burst out with the glad cry: "Oliver is no longer in Detroit, but he's wanted here, and Mr. Black and I are going to find him! I think I know where to look for him, mother dear; we are going tonight." "But," objected Deborah, "if you know where to look for him, why take the child? Why go yourself? Why not telegraph to these places?" His answer was a quick, quick, sharp, and enigmatic enough to require explanation. He could not give it to her then, but later, when Reuther had left them, he said: "Men who carry their engagements and secrete themselves, with or without a pretext, are not so easily reached. We shall have to surprise Oliver Ostrander, in order to place his father's message in his hands." "You may be right. But Reuther? Can she stand the excitement—the physical strain?" "You have the harder task of the two. Mrs. Scoville. Leave the little one to me. She shall not suffer." Deborah's response was eloquent; it was only a look, but it made his harsh features glow and his hard eye soften. But his thoughts, if not his hopes, received a check when, with every plan made and Reuther in trembling anticipation of the journey, he encountered the triumphant figure of Flannagan coming out of police headquarters. His jaunty air, his complaisant nod, admitted of but one explanation. He had told his story to the chief authorities and been listened to. Proof that he had something of actual moment to tell them; something which the district attorney's office might feel bound to take up. A night of stars, seen through swaying treetops whose leaves crisping to their fait, murmured gently of vanished hopes and approaching death. Below, a long, low building with a lighted window here and there, surrounded by a heavy growth of trees which are but the earnest of the limitless stretch of the Adirondack woods which painted darkness on the encircling horizon. Within, Reuther seated in the glow of a hospitable fire of great logs, talking earnestly to Mr. Black. As they were placed, he could see her much better than she could see him, his back being to the blaze and she, in its direct glare. He could, therefore, study her features without offense, and this he did steadily and with deep interest, all the while she was talking. He was looking for signs of physical weakness or fatigue; but he found none. The pallor of her features was a natural pallor, and in their expression, new forces were becoming apparent, which gave him encouragement, rather than anxiety, for the adventure whose most trying events lay still before them. This is what she was saying: "I cannot point to any one man of the many who have been about us ever since we started north. But..." That we have been watched and our route followed, I feel quite convinced. But. As you saw, no one besides ourselves left the cars at this station, and I am beginning to hope that we shall remain unmolested till we can take the trip to Tempest Lodge. How far is it, Mr. Black?" (TO BE CONTINUED.) WHEN AN iceberg Collapses Event Always Source of Great Danger to Craft That May Be in the Immediate Vicinity. One of the main dangers in the proximity of an iceberg is its unknown extent beneath the water, it is told that the passengers of a steamboat on the Newfoundland coast successfully importuned the captain to approach an iceberg for a close inspection, says a writer in the Wide World. While still apparently sufficiently distant for safety some movement in the water or natural decay acted upon the berg, and it split apart, instantly it began to readjust its balance. The tremendous masses beneath the water steadily rose as the pieces swung over, and one wide extending edge came up beneath the boat. "What shall we do now?" inquired a tourist. "Get down on your knees," was the terse reply of the captain. But the great wave from the tumbling ice swept down on the boat and washed it to safety. The collapse of an iceberg spreads danger to great distances. It may be too far distant to threaten a craft itself, but the wave it raises will swamp the largest boat in the immediate neighborhood. Saw New Era of Warfare. At the first interview between Napoleon and the veteran generals whom he was to command, Napoleon undertook to give the young commander some advice. Napoleon, who was impatient of advice, exclaimed: "Gentlemen, the art of war is in its infancy." The time has passed in which enemies are mutually to appoint the place of combat, advance hand in hand and say: "Gentlemen, will you have the goodness to be?" "Table Talk and Opinions of Napoleon Bonaparte." Bonaparte's Unlucky Shot, it is somewhat remarkable that the first shell fired at Toulon was by the hand of Bonaparte, and that it fell upon and entirely destroyed the very house where he and his family had resided during the short time they inhabited the town after their removal from Corsica. It was a hotel kept by the foster sister of his mother, the daughter of her nurse. The husband of the unfortunate woman was killed in the explosion —The Napoleon Anecdotes edited by W. H. Ireland. SEDATE PROBE OF HIGHLAND REFUSE. Committee to Continue Investigation After Adjournment BOXING BILL FALLS  City and Bloomfield. The appropriations committee will decide whether the money is to be forthcoming this year. Senator Rathbun wanted the Senate to defer action on the three propositions until the money was actually available. The recommendations for specific armories should be made by the State Military Board. The solicitation of money from the appropriations committee for armories is one of the incidents of every session. Senators Colgate and Ackerson defended the bills. Boxing Bill Cut Up. With the House boxing bill so mutilated with amendments that the introducer would scarcely know it, the Senate was against the bill on the first attempt to pass it. As the bill reads, the bouts are to be conducted under A. A. U. rules, the bouts reduced from ten to four rounds, with no decision. It would legalize none but amateur tournaments under A. A. U. rules. Senator Read speaking for the bill said it had been amended to permit only amateur exhibitions. The Senator said he was cognizant of the fact that there was general opposition to professional bouts. Senator Wheaton spoke in favor of the bill because of the regulation it provided. Bouts are held in Cape May County, he said, without regulation. The main objection to the bill came from Senator Pierce, of Union. This Senator said in conversation with one of the gentlemen interested in the passage of the bill it was admitted that the fee to be charged for admission to such contests was for the purpose of paying the expenses of professional boxers who would be secured for such bouts. Senator Egan assured the Union County Senator that the bill read that the bouts must be under A. A. U. rules and this automatically excluded professional fighters. Senator Pierce insisted that the bill then in so many words should limit these bouts to amateur boxers. Sentor McGinnis, of Passaic, has evidently hit the sawdust trail, as he remarked he had been touched by grace through Billy Sunday and would have to oppose the passage of the bill even in its amended form. Osteopath Bill Passes House. Although vigorously opposed, Senator McGinnis's osteopath bill passed the House by a vote of 32 to 12. The bill is Senate No. 183, and under its provisions any person who is a graduate of a regularly incorporated college of osteopathy, actively engaged in the practice of osteopathy and a resident of New Jersey for a period of one year prior to April, 1913, shall be entitled to practice that profession in the State. Among those voicing opposition was Majority Leader Runyon, of Union, who declared that under the provisions of the measures, the bars would be let down and almost anyone would be permitted to practice osteopathy in the State. What was needed, he said, was a high standard for such practitioners. Speaking in favor of the measure were Assemblymen Barbour, of Passaic, and Hammond, of Mercer. The bill will now go to the Governor for action. State Board Reduces Assessment. The State Board of Equalization of Taxes reduced to $1,600,000 an assess ment for taxes for 1914 against the New York State Realty and Terminal Company in Weehawken. The orig inal assessment was $2,500,000, and the first judgment of the State board on an appeal was $1,750,000. The com pany then started certiorari proceed ings to review the judgment of the State board. The case was then re opened and the court proceedings were withdrawn, with the result of the Mrther reduction in favor of the company. Tthe taxes were agadnst water front property. Three Economy Biita Signed. Three more of the origins! eight effi ciency and economy biiis in legislature were signed by Governor Fieider, thus becon^ng isws, siong with one other, signed early in the week. The biiis signed are those creating a new Department of Conservation and De velopment of Conservation and De velopment, creating a new Department of Commerce and Navigation and com Mmtng the State Tax Board and the State Board of Assessors into one board, to be known as the Board of Taxes and Assessments. COUNTY BOARDS TO STAY. Tax Bit) Does Not Abotish Them— Origins) Ptan Dropped. Thu Senate passed the committee substitute for the Pierce tax bills with the provision aboiishing the county boards of taxation omitted. This ac tion followed a conference on the sub ject by the Republicans of the Senate. Senator Rathbun, however, toid the Senate that he was piedged to abolish the county tax boards and he' would not vote for the substitute. Under the substitute bill the pow ers of the State Tax Board are broad ened and it is provided that a State supervisor of assessments shall be named by the Governor. At the explr. An action of the terms of present assessors who are elected, their successors will be chosen by the governing bodies of the municipalities and the assessors will hold office pending good behavior. The Senate by a vote of six to ten defeated the bill to exempt church parsonages from taxation. The present exemption is $5,000. President Edge spoke in favor of the bill. He said there is a general feeling against tax exemptions. But there is no class of property that should appeal more for exemption than church parsonages. Church property, whether a parsonage or church, should be exempted without reference to any tax exemption limit. Senator Rathbun, of Morris, opposed the bill and said he did not think the question of exempting property was cleared any by the proposed lifting of all taxes against church parsonages. He said the people behind the bill, who are supposed to be fair men, are seeking to avoid a fair tax assessment. The trustees of churches are not behind the bill, he said, but it is an association of clergymen who are trying to escape taxation. Bryant Wins on Labor Bill. The eleven Republican Senators voted for House, 606, which proposes to retain Gen. Lewis T. Bryant as State commissioner of labor beyond the term of Governor Fielder. Nine Democratic Senators voted against the measure. The bill, besides retaining General Bryant in office until 1917, also consolidates with the Department of Labor the Bureau of Industrial Statistics. The bill was introduced in the House and its passage was secured through the votes of three Democratic Assemblymen. This was advanced as a reason for the support of the bill in the Senate by the Democrats. . President Edge, of Atlantic, took the floor to advocate the passage of the Godfrey bill. The bill, he said, had been introduced after many conferences and as the result of considerable study of the question. He thought no lengthy arguments would be necessary to convince the Senate of the efficiency of the Labor Department, as at present constituted, as it has the endorsement of all classes. The Democratic tirade against the bill was opened by Senator Peter J. McGinnis, of Passaic. The Economy and Efficiency Commission, he said, had carefully considered the question of merging the Labor Department and had agreed to recommend such action and the bill was introduced in the Senate. The economy bill was fair, he said, as it treated all departments alike. But the labor department reorganization bill came out of committee with a touch of partisanship because George C. Low, a Democrat, and chief of the statistical bureau was wiped out of office and General Bryant retained notwithstanding the recommendation of the Economy Commission. Won't Abofish Death Penalty. The House voted down the bill to abolish capital punishment in New Jersey. The vote was taken after nearly four hours of debate. The final vote showed twenty in favor of the repeal of the law and twenty-nine against. In order that the bill might again be brought up for consideration, Assemblyman James Hammond, of Mercer, changed his vote from the affirmative to the negative, so in reality the vote stood 21 for and 29 against. Ten members of the House did not vote on the question. The bill brought out the most interesting debate that has been heard on any bill brought up at this session of the Legislature. The stand taken by Rev. Harry J. Robst, Assemblyman from Hunterdon, a clergyman, favoring capital punishment, was perhaps the most surprising thing the debate developed. Assemblyman Robst attempted to justify his stand by laying he was defending the home, the wife and mother. The clergyman was taken to task by Assemblyman Barbour, who asked him if he, as an agent of Christ, did not believe in His teachings—namely, forgiveness and charity. Rev. Mr. Robst replied: "I never have, nor do I ever expect to, exercise the right to forgive a man his sins." Mr. Barbour replied that he was aware Rev. Mr. Robst represented a denomination that did not believe in man forgiving the sins of man, but that the fact remained that Christ forgave the thief on the cross, and said, "Thou shalt not kill." "Baby Farm Bit" O. K. Governor Fielder signed the law giving municipal boards of health power to license "baby farms," the bill which Assemblyman Barradale, of Essex, presented at the instance of the Newark Board of Health. The powers the new law confers on the health boards include the issuing of licenses and requiring them, the charging of a fee for the licenses and the prevention of anybody operating a boarding house for infants or children without such licenses. The matter aroused quite some interest. 