Under His Thumb — page 173: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

164 UNDER HIS THUMB. fatal weakness. And at such times he was not al-— ways fully conscious of his own acts, although he would apparently be comparatively sober. He had committed many petty offenses, while in that con- dition, at various times. And upon each of those — occasions he afterward retained not the slightest — recollection of his own action. » hee If this were possible in lighter offenses, was 1t not likewise so in the case of the Waldron tragedy? Stella did not like to think for even a moment of this dreadful possibility. Yet it would obtrude upon her mind in spite of all her efforts to banish it. And now, with the words of George Dyer ringing in her ears, the horrifying suspicion became stronger, and for a moment overwhelmed all her courageous confidence, which, until then, had been unyielding. For an instant she stood weak and trembling under the unwavering gaze of the young man. Then her resolution returned, reinforced by a reali- zation of a new necessity. } Perhaps her father did commit the crime. Ina drunken frenzy he might have shot Hiram Waldron, and upon recovery of his senses no recollection of the act lingered in his mind. : With compressed lips Stella accepted the possibil- ity, and with electrical rapidity she decided what to do. Whether innocent or unconsciously guilty, her vagabond father must be defended. And, friendless and an outcast, who but herself could defend him? Braced by this thought, the brave girl resolutely met the gaze of the foreman. Fgh “Tf I desire it, you can tell me the culprit’s name?”’ she repeated, in a low, clear tone. . “That is what I said,’’ he replied. “Tf you know who shot Hiram Waldron, why do you shield the guilty man?’’ Dyer hesitated, and then answered: - ‘Can you not imagine?’’ ‘*l cannot.’’ | “You know what I have told you many times— — that I love you, and that I would spare you any pain that I could at whatever cost to myself,” a * comicbooks.com