The Republican journal., 1873-11-20

| The only excuse that | could urge of pri
waite friendship and confidence in the MAJ
who had robbed us. would make the mat
| s,r only the worse. Clearly, AT the same
| time that | told the circumstances to thu
! Directors, | should be bound to place IN,
resignation in their hands, to be put il
force If they saw fit And there would b,
| little doubt that they would acccptit How
damaging, too. the story would be to me
when | tried to obtain another appoint
| mcnt.
had promised to take my wife and chill
| dren for an excursion down the river, a
soon rs the bank closed, and the youngcs
eagerly reminded me of my promise.
replied 50 sayagely and stcrnly, that til.
! children made off in tears; my wife, com
| INC 70 see what was the matter, Jared little
| better must have had sIlnstroke, o.
something, She told me, and brought band
| ages and eau de cologne flung then
| away in a rage, and went out of the house
must be doing something, ] felt. and
hailed Il cab and drove 10 Ihrapstow',
| lodgings
MIR. Thrapstow wasn't coming home thai
night. his landlady told me, she thought
hc was away for 4 little ,launt; but she
didn't know He occupied the ground
floor OF 4 small house in Ecclcsford street,
Pimlico-two rooms opening into each
other told the woman that would sit
down and write q letter. She knew me
well enough, as had frequently visited
ThrapslOW, and She left me to myself
Then began to overhaul everything, to
try to find out some clcw to his where
abouts. \ few letters We're on the chin
ncypiece: they were only circulars from
tradesmen. In the fireplace was :; con-
siderable quantity OF charrcd finder. He
had evidently been burning papers recent
~, and 4 quantity Of them | turned the
finder carefully over, spreading it out up
on newspaper. found nothing legible
except one little scrap of paper which
the fire had not altogether reduced to
powder, on which saw the name of Isa-
bel shining with metallic lustre. Then
| went TO the bedroom. and searched that.
Here, too, We're evident preparations for
flight; coats ana other garments thrown
hastily into cupboards. boxes turned out,
an odd glove or two living upon the dress
ing-table carefully searched all the
pockets for letters or other documents,
but ! found nothing. The keys were LETT
in all the Ieceptacles; an instance of
Charles thoughtfulne4s Tor others. in the
midst OF his rascallty.
Lying upon the Wash-stand was a card
which was blank upon one side. but on
the other had the name OF the photo
graphcr printed upon 1t. The card vas
wet. rs if it had been soaked in water;
and near the upper end of it was 4 round
irregular cut. which did not quite pene-
trate the card 1t had evidently once had
photograph fastened on it; accordingly.
the card had been Wctted, to facilitate the
removal Of the photograph, while the face
Of the portrait had evidently been cut out,
in order TO place il in 2 locket on some
thing similar
It struck me a once that the photograph
about which 4 man on the eve Of Eight
would take 50 much trouble must be OF a
person very dear to him; probably his
sweetheart Although had been intimate
with Thrapstow, he had always been very
reserved as to his own friends and asso-
ciateS, and had no clue to guide me to
any Of them except the photographers
card
Re-entcring my cab, | drove of to the
Photographers There was no number
or distinguishing mark upon the card and
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
4 customer, he seemed little inclined to
trouble himself about the matter The
promise OF fee, however, made him
more reasonable, and he offered to let me
see his books, that | might search for the
name / wanted TO find But then | didn't
know the name | wanted to find. It was
unlikely that the photograph had been
done for ThrapstoW; ii it had, there
would probably appear on the books only
the useless record Of his address, already
known to me Then the man shook his
head. If didn't know the name, it was
no use looking The card was nothing,
he said he sent hundreds out every month
What information could he possibly give
me? Then tried to describe the personal
appearance Of Thrapstow but again he
shook his head If he hadn't taken his
likeness, he wouldn't be likely to remem-
Der him: hardly even then, 50 many PEG
pie pass through his hands.
All this time he had been carelessly
holding the card in his fingers. CHANGING
at ii now and then, and suddenly an idea
seemed to strike him Stop Il bit" he
said, and went into his dark chamber,
and presently emerged, smelling strongly
OF chemicals Look here he said
triumphantly | looked, and saw a very
faint ghostly Impression OF photograph.
Its printed itself through. " said the man
they viii sometimes-and I've brought
il to light. Yes, [ know the original of
that" Again he Owed into a closet, and
brought ont Il negative with d number
and a label TO it, Then he turned to his
book, and wrote down an address for me
Mrs Maidmont. LarkSpur Road. Not
ting Hill
Away ! went to Larkspur Road Mrs.
Maidmont's house was q small, comfort
able residence, with bright windows,
yerandahs, gorgeous window boxes, and
striped sun blinds Mrs Maidmont was
at home, said the pretty looking maid, and
sent inmy card, with a message ;"On most
important business" The maid returned
to say that her mistress did not recognize
the name but would ! walk in2 ! was
shown into pretty drawing-roon on the
first floor An elderly lady rose to greet
me with old fashioned courtesy, at the
same time with good deal Of uneasy
curiosity visible in her face. This was
not the original OF the photograph, who
was young and charming girl.
Madame, | said rapidly, II believe
that my friend, Charles Thrapstow, is
well known to you; now, it is of the
utmost Importance that l should ascertain
where he is at this moment
Stay said the old lady, You are
laboring under complete mistake; |
know nothing whatever Of the gentleman
whose lame You mention: 4 name Inevel
heard before
Was she deceiving me? ! did not think
s0
Perhaps Miss Maidmont may know, :
| said eagerly.
Miss Maidmont is not likely to have
formed any acquaintance without hel
mother knowledge" said Mrs. Maidmon1
with dignity. There seemed to be no al
tentative but for me to retreat with apollo
gies.
81 am very busy, you see, went on the
old lady with wave OF the hand; anC