gs over me." He was silent for some
moments, then he said: "Mr. Ballard, if, after the search, my son is
found to be murdered, I will put a detective on the trail of the man
who did the deed, and be he whom he may, he shall hang."

"Hush, Elder Craigmile; in Wisconsin men are not hanged."

"I tell you--be he whom he may--he shall suffer what is worse than to
be hanged, he shall enter the living grave of a life imprisonment."

CHAPTER XIII

CONFESSION

By Monday evening there were only two people in all the small town of
Leauvite who had not heard of the tragedy, and these were Hester
Craigmile and Betty Ballard. Mary doubted if it was wise to keep
Hester thus in ignorance, but it was the Elder's wish, and at his
request she went to spend the evening and if necessary the night with
his wife, to fend off any officious neighbor, while he personally
directed the search.

It was the Elder's firm belief that his son had been murdered, yet he
thought if no traces should be found of Peter Junior, he might be able
to spare Hester the agony of that belief. He preferred her to think
her son had gone off in anger and would sometime return. He felt
himself justified in this concealment, fearing that if she knew the
truth, she might grieve herself into her grave, and his request to
Mary to help him had been made so pitifully and humbly that her heart
melted at the sight of the old man's sorrow, and she went to spend
those weary hours with his wife.

As the Elder sometimes had meetings of importance to take him away of
an evening, Hester did not feel surprise at his absence, and she
accepted Mary's visit as one of sweet friendliness and courtesy
because of Peter's engagement to Betty. Nor did she wonder that the
visit was made without Bertrand, as Mary said he and the Elder had
business together, and she thought she would spend the time with her
friend until their return.

That was all quite as it should be and very pleasant, and Hester
filled the moments with cheerful chat, showing Mary certain pieces of
cloth from which she proposed to make dainty garments for Betty, to
help Mary with the girl's wedding outfit. To Mary it all seemed like a
dream as she locked the sad secret in her heart and listened. Her
friend's sorrow over Peter Junior's disagreement with his father and
his sudden departure from the home was tempered by the glad hope that
after all the years of anxiety, she was some time to have a daughter
to lo