Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-11-13

turned White and cold "Of course
you must refuse them," l said to the
I cashier W -.Ale
When he went out, I sat in nv cba;,
quite stlll for few moments, bewildered
at the sudden misfortune that had han
pened to me. Charles Thrapstow "as
clearly defaulter; but there was th;S one
chance-he might have given the checls
in the confidence of selling those hondS
and placing the balance to his account
In due course, these checks. which were
crossed, would have been brourht to the
clearing house, and have been presented
on the morrow. But it seemed that h;s
creditors had some mistrust of him and
had caused the checks to be demanded
| out of due course.
The clock struck three. Charles had
not come back. The bank doors closed
with clang. | could endure the suspense
no longer. Telling the bank porter that
II MIR: Ihrapstow came, he was to be adj.
mltted at the private door, and was to he
detaiE d in my room till I returned, T
went out, and made my way to his office.
which was only few hundred wards
distant. tie wasn't there The clerk. a
youth of fifteen, knew nothing about
him. He was in Capel Court, perhaps
anywhere he didn't know. Had he been
In within the last halfhour? Well, no
the clerk did not think he had. His story,
| then, OF the customer waiting at his office
was lie
With heavy heart, l went back to the
bank. No; Mr. Thrapstow hadn't been
| in, the porter said. | took cab and went
Oft to the office of Mr. Gedgemount, the
solicitor to the bank. | told him, in con
tidence, what had happened, and asked
his advice. could [ get a warrant
against this Thrapstow for stealing the
| bOnds?"
Upon my word" said Gedgemount, II
don't think you can make criminal mat
| ter OF it. 1t isn't larceny, because YOU
abandoned the possession of the bonds
voluntarily. No; | don't see how Won
can touch him. You must make bank
| rupt of him, and then you can pursue
him, as having fraudulently carried off
| his assets"
But that advice was no good to me. I
| think | was wrong in taking it. I think
| l ought to have gone straight off to the
| police office, and put the affair in the
hands of the detectives. Dignified men
of law, like Gedgemount, always find a
| dozen reasons for inaction, except in mat
tiers that bring grist TO their own mill
| | went home completely disheartened
and detected. How could l face my di-
rectors with such story as that had to
| tell? The only excuse that l could urge,
of private friendship and confidence in
the man who had robbed us, would make
the matter only the worse. Clearly, at the
same time that / told the circumstances to
the directors, should be bound to place
my resignation in their hands, to be put
| Mt hnr oh
would be little doubt but that they would
accept it. How damaging, too, the story
WORLD be to me, when | tried to obtain
another appointment.
| had promised to take my wife and
children for an excursion down the river,
as soon as the bank closed, and the young
sters eagerly reminded me of my promise.
| [ replied so savagely and sternly, that the
| children made off in tears; my wife, COM
| ing to see what was the matter, Jared little
| better. | must have had sunstrOke or
| something, she told me, and brought ban
| dages and eau de Cologne. flung away
| in rage, and went out of the house. |
must be doing something, / felt, and /
hailed a cab and drove to Thrapstow S
lodgings.
Mr.. Thrapstow wasn't coming home
that night, his landlady told me; she
| thought he was away for little jaunt;
| but she didn't know. He occupied the
ground-f1oor of small house in Ec-
| clesford street, Pimlico-two rooms,
opening into each other. / told the
woman that I would sit down and write
| a letter. She knew me we'll enough, as |
had frequently visited Thrapstow, and
| she left me to myself. Then | began to
overhaul everything, to try to find out
some clue to his whereabouts. A few let
tiers were on the chimney piece; they
were only circulars from tradesmen. In
| the fireplace was a considerable quantity
of charred finder. He had evidently
been burning papers recently, and a
quantity Of them. | turned the finder
carefully over, spreading it out upon a
newspaper I found nothing legible ex-
| cept one little scrap of paper, which the
on which / saw the name Isabel shining
with metallic luster. Then I went to the
bedroom, and searched that. Here, too,
were evident coats and other garments
thrown hastily into cupboards, boxes
turned out, an odd glove or two lying
upon the dressing-ta table. carefully
searched all the pockets for letters or
other documents, but | found nothing.
The keys were left in all the receptacles;
An instance of Charles thOughtfulness
for others in the midst of his rascallty.
Lying upon the wash-stand was card,
which was blank upon one side, but on
the other had the name of photographer
printed upon it. The card was wet, as ii
it had been soaked in water; and near
| the upper end of it was a round Irregular
cut which did not quite penetrate the
card. 1t had evidently once had photo
| graph fastened on it; accordingly, the card
had been wetted to facilitate the removal
Of the photograph, whilst the face of the
portrait had evidently been cut, IN order
to place it in a locket or something
similar.
1t struck me at once that the photo.
! graph about which a man on the eve OF
flight would take so much trouble, must
be of person very dear TO
him; probably his sweetheart. AL
though | had been intimate with Thrap-
stow, he had always been very reserved as
to his own friends and associates, and l
had no clue to guide me to any OF them,
except the photographers card.
Re-entering my cab, drove off to the
photographers. There was no number OF
distinguishing mark upon the card, ana
the chances seemed faint that he would be
able to tell me anything about It, Indeed,
at first, when the man found that | WASN'T
a customer, he seemed little inclined to
trouble himself about the matter. The
promise of fee, however, made him