Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-03-16
"The THEIR 1 replied, astonished.

"The thief" 1 replied, astonished.
Yes, the thief Some one has alb
stracted valuable papers and . sum of
money from my room"
Impossible!"
yet such is the case, and it is perfect
enigma how it could have happened"
Perhaps you omitted TO lock your
door"
NO; the door was locked so that no
one could have entered my room except
through yoursg'
Impossible!' reiterated.
"That wash-stand there" continued Al
bert, "must have been showed aside"
THAT wash-stand theoretically I was
just going to tell him that l had really
found 1t as he said"
II do not know what TO think. You
continue to assert that you were awake all
the EVENING""
Twas undecided how to reply. had
half mind to confide to friend Albert the
ruse had employed, but 1 knew him to
be the greatest tattler in town, and once
in possession of any secret he would make
me most ridiculous before all my friends
and acquaintances. So tried to steer
different course.
By the way, come to think Of it, be-
lieve was unconscious for short time"
while saying this felt the effect of AL
bert's piercing eye as it seemed to read my
thoughts.
AT what time was this?"
"Some time before eight o'clock"
Rather strange" he replied the theft
must have taken place at later hour, for
the clock on my bureau, which has stopped
by being thrown down, points to nine
o'clock"
II can give you no more information"
I replied, angrily. "As 1 just told you, I
fell into state Of Inconsistencies, and |
cannot say for certain how long it lasted"
The countenance of my colleague here
expressed a very suspicious perplexity.
"The court will hardly be satisfied with
your explanation" he continued. al
have already announced my loss to the po-
lice authority. l really regret very much
to have been obliged to use such harsh
measures"
was about to give Albert piece of
my mind and display all the energy that
false accusation could call forth in me,
when l heard mems footsteps in the hall
way. A moment later and was arrested
in the name Of the law. Naturally, pro-
tested and assured them Of my innocence
but the "agent of the police only shrugged
his shoulders and said: "The court will
decide as to your guilt or innocence"
The Judge before whom | was brought,
was at the same time humane and shrewd,
He Immediately suspected a mistake, but
when he questioned me 1 discovered that
the chain of circumstances was very
strong against me, and l began to tremble
for the consequences of my white lie. /
thought the matter over in my mind. l
reflected and conjured up all possible
means of exoneration, but came at last to.
the conclusion that but one method of
saving myself from the iron grasp of the
law existed
My only hope lay in proving an alibi.
But now this was to be done was the
question that perplexed me. No one had
seen me leave the house, every inmate
having left before me- At last the thought
struck me to send for the door-keeper of
the concert room; he must have observed
me.
This respectable individual was called,
but upon being questioned, smilingly re-
piled: There were SO many persons
present with chestnut hair and com
mon faces that ne certainly could not be
expected to recognize them at all" Thus
vanished the hope OF being acquitted
through the strength of his memory.
While still depressed by the very in
suspicious termination Of his answers, the
idea struck me that the woman with the
Roman nose and her freckled companion
could save me- l naturally imagined that
it could not be very difficult to find them,
as the niece of the Judge must be person
ally acquainted with them.
Soon they were ushered into the court
fnI
stood before me, the elder one in all the
dignity Of Roman nOsed matron, the
smaller one conscious of her ability to
help a poor fellow out of scrape. I
eyed them closely. Nor for moment
did my glance leave the Roman nose, un-
less it were to admire the freckles on the
other face. Piteously l must have APP
peared while my eyes looked with mute
appeal into the black ones of my vis-G-oss.
But all this did not help me one whit.
Would you believe it? They denied ever
having seen me, and they did this with
seeming truthfulness that recalled to my
mind Meyerbeers Prophet denying
knowledge Of his own mother. My
vanity naturally received rude shock by
this persistent disavowal, for had always
considered myself sufficiently cookbook
ing to be remembered by any one of the
fair SEX and now to discover that was
mistaken-it was more than could bear.
1.-THE gentleman who occupied the
seats adjoining ours was more corpulent,
and had a handsome fact, said the lady
in the autumn of life.
You are mistaken, madame" here ex
claimed the budding flower, "he had a
dark, curly head"
mo, ma chere; your eyes which seem
to look with great fondness on that color
Of hair, have certainly been deceived"
said madam, for am certain that they
were grey"
was astounded, but I still chung des-
perately to my last chance.
"But, mademoiselle, you certainly could
not have forgotten that the man who sat
next to III tore off piece Of the fringe
of your mantilla in leaving the concert
rooms" asked the little lady.
"Oh, have not forgotten it. The big
fool tore away piece of my nice new
mantilla," replied the little one.
"Do you still possess that same man
tilla - asked again.
To nv great iOy she answered in the