The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1873-12-11

| caused the checks to be dema1de
out of due course.
The clock struck 3. Charles had
not come back. The bank doors
closed with clank. / could endure
the suspense no longer. Telling the
bank porter that if Mr.. Thrapstow
came, he was to be admitted at the
private door and was to be detained
in my room till returned, / went
out and made my way to his office,
which was only few hundred yards
distant. He wasn't there. The
clerk, youth of Is, knew nothing
about him. He was at capel court,
perhaps anywhere, he didn't know.
Had he been in within the last half,
hour? Well no; the clerk did
not think he had. His story, then,
of the customer waiting at his office
was lie.
With a heavy heart l went back to
the bank. No; Mr.. Thrapstow
hadn't been in, the porter said. l
took cab and went off to the office
of Mr.. Gedgenount, the solicitor to
the bank. | told him in confidence
what had happened, and asked his
advice. 'Could l get a warran,
against this Tnrapstow for stealing
the bonds?'
upon my word, said Gedgemount,
Il don't think you can make a Grim
inal matter of it. 1t isn't larceny,
because you abandoned the posses
sion of the bonds voluntarily. No .
| don't see how you can touch him;
You must make a bankrupt of him,
and then you can pursue him as
having fraudulently carried off his
assets
But that advice was no good to
me | think | was wrong in taking it.
l think 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 Gedge-
mount, always find a dozen reasons
for inactiOn, except in matters that
bring grist to their own mill.
went home completely disheart-
ened and detected. How could l
face my Directors with such a story
as that 1 had to tell? The only ex-
cuse that | could urge, of private
friendship and confidence in the man
who had robbed US, would make the
matter only worse. Clearly, at the
same time that | told the circum-
stances to the Directors, should be
bound to place my resignation in
their hands, to be put in force if they
thought fit. And there would be
little doubt but that they would ac-
cept it. How damaging, too, the
story would be to me when l tried to
obtain another appointment.
l had promised TO take my wife
and children for an excursion down
the river as soon as the bank closed,
and the youngsters eagerly reminded
me of my promise. [ replied so saw
agely and sternly, that the children
made off in tears; my wife, come to
see what was the matter, Jared little
better. l must have had a sunstroke
or something, she told me, and
brought bandages and eau de Col
ogne. flung them away in rage, and
went out OF the house. l must do
something, l felt, aud l hailed cab
and drove to Thrapstow's lodging.
=. 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 floor Of a
small house Ecclestord street, Pimli-
ca a--two rooms opening into each
other. | told the woman that /
would sit down and write letter.
She knew me well enough, as l 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 letters were on the chimney
piece; they were only circulars from
tradesmen. In the fireplace was a
considerable quantity of charred
tinder. He had evidently been burn
ing papers recently, and quantity
of them. | turned the tinder care
fully over, spread it out upon a news,
paper. l found nothing legible ex.
cept one little scrap of paper, which
the fire had not altogether reduced
to powder, on which | saw the name
of Isabel shining with metallic luster.
Then | went to the bed d-room and
searched that. Here too, were evi.
dent preparations for flight; coats,
and other garments thrown hastily
into the cupboard, boxes turned out,
an odd glove or two lying upon the
dressing table. l carefully searched
all the pockets for letters or other
documents, but | found nothing.
The keys were left in all the recepta-
cles; an instance of Charles thought
fulness for others, in the midst of his
rascality.
Lying upon the wash-stand was q
card which was blank upon one side,
but on the other had the name of a
photographer printed upon it. The
card was wet, as if it had been soak
ed in water and near the upper end
of it was round irregular cut, which
did not quite penetrate the card. 1t
had evidently once had a photograph
fastened on it, accordingly, the card
had been wetted to facilitate the re-
moval of the photograph, whilst the
face of the portrait had evideHtly
been cut out in order to place it in a
locket or something similar.
1t struck me at once that the pho,
tograph about which man on the
eve of flight would take so much
trouble must be very dear to him
probably his sweetheart. ALTHOUGH b
had been intimate with Thrapstow,
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, l drove off to
the photographers. There was no
number or disting uishing 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 | was not
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
1t was unlikely that the photograph
| had hann dono far Th rnnnLou IL I,