Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-12-29

doubt he had read the telegram, and knew
that II was put-of.
"Oh. he's not coming, them Well. why
ont You wire tfn TO come over you can
h ave this room til he comes. only, as ii Is
wanted DEAL l shall charge you another
pound Tor the use Of IT.
The suggestion was a good one. il we had
known To whom 10 send the message: but. in
I the latter case, we need not have been going
through this disagreeable, dangerous expert
Il don't think, said al last THAT my EN-
/ ployer would approve of my sending for this
man: II looks like being oyeranxious about
! the bargain"
| looked over at Kate, who at once took the
1 cue.
Yes: / am sure my husband would not do
/ it, But if you, my dear Mr.. GrinrOd. would
l kindly let him know without our Knowing
anything about n-you know what temper
I the Captain has-that Captain White is here
waiting for him, would pay for the room and
five Shillings for the message. cab. and 80 on,
and should be 80 much obliged 10 YOU
The irasclble, suspicious tIrinrod was molli-
fed and subdued by the power of beauty.
/ III do anything Ia oblige lady he said.
and went out TO dispatch the message, evil
| IDENTITY knowing quite well where 10 send IL.
/ Never did hours pass 50 slowly as those that
elapsed While We were waiting at the Three
4 Pigeons for the unknown thief The landlord
/ CAME in and out. doing his best To he civil and
attentive, talking about horses and handicapS.
ana asking for advice upon this race and that.
until was afraid he would discover my shall
low. superficial knowledge and detect me as
quaTTeled, and fought: sometimes Grnrod
/ was called out Ia thrust half a dozen Of the
most intoxicated, those who could drink no
/ more. into the street
/ Twelve O'Clock struck from the churchclOck
opposite: time crept slowly on. still nobody
came. Another hour struck and we began To
/ feel that IL WAS useless To wait longer
just then We heard bell ring. and Grinrod
I hustled H.. Hes here, at a private door
SShaii show EN- up? Kate nodded. The next
| lew minutes seemed an age.
! There was a whispered conference at the
door; then we heard something on the stairs
4 thump thump thump. as if heavy piece of
! furniture were being dragged up. Then the
/ door opened aud revealed the cunning. wiz
/ ened face of Bob HargreayeS.
He had evidently come i'm hot haste: the
| perSplratlon streamed from his face. which he
| was wiping nervOusly with his blue cotton
handkerchief. He wore the very same eos
4 tune as when first saw him. except that the
| cowskm waistcOat was replaced by one of
| dirty white cotton. I'm late. miSSuS' he
| cried, making a kind of awkward salute
And 50 the Captain couldn't come. Well he'd
/ ought To let me know
At this moment he caught sight of me- I
| could withhold myself no longer. and rushed
! eagerly forward. His face turned livi,i and
/ then green. He turned to escape. but his stick
| slipped from under him; he came down heav-
lily, his head striking against the corner OF the
| table, and lay there inSenSible.
Ii was not time for thinking of legal nice
| Ties, and had no ScrupleS in turning out his
| pockets at once. making sure that l should
md the missing notes. soon came TO big.
| greasy pocket-b0Ok and opened ii. but the
notes were not there. \ thorough search only
revealed in his possession a half-crown. few
| coppers, a return third-claSs ticket for How
bent, and a pawnbr0kerS duplicate for the
cowskln WalStcoat. pledged for half a crown
! that morning.
Twas staggered at this last apparent proof
OF the man ; impecuniOsity. and certainly the
! position was an awkward one. HargreayeS.
| for the moment stunned by the fall, was fast
recovering his senses. On the face of il had
| been guilty of an aggravated assault and rob
| berry. And had not "A little of evidence apainSt
| the man.
Il think we'd better get out of this as fast as
| We can," L said To Kate. Mr.. Hargreaves
has been too many for us" And / began
examining his things back into his pocket
stop" cried Kate; "Jem, l have been
thlnklhg. There Is Just one chance; let us
| steal the pawn ticket"
The thought that was i'm her mind also flashed
upon me. l slipped the ticket into my pocket,
Kate put her arm in mine. We marched boldly
| down stairs and out of doors: we were in the
| street before anybody had noticed us. Then
We went straight To the pawnbrokers shop
| and redeemed the cOwskin waistcoat carving
| IL OH 10 my office, where We carefully exam
| ined il.
We sent the cowskin waistcoat TO Mr. Har-
| greayes, at HOwbent, with polite note beg
| ging him TO accept the two and seven-pence
halfpenny we had paid for its redemption, as
compensation for the slight damage We had
done to its lning-a damage which his skill i'm
| his craft would enable him to repair We saw
| nothing more of him till the end of three
| months. when a favorable turn Of affairs en-
| lily 10 repay MS loan WITH interest.
| Then Bob was seized with remorse, or some
/ feeling that answered the same purpose and
he confessed to me that he had stolen the notes
that We had SO fortunately recovered. The
! devil had tempted him, he said: for he had no
! ticed that, when locked up the safe, made
use OF key L took from a nail over the fire
place. and that returned it to the same place.
| The temptation to clear fl000 at a blow. was
strong. He watched me out of the Office. and
had no difficulty i'm shooting back the lock of
| my door with his clasp knife. There was no
ha hpn in. l,..
! would have had a plausible excuse ready.
Then he found the key of the safe hanging
where had left il, and was soon in possession
| OF the money he had so recently parted with.
| He took my portfolio, too, for he had seen me
| put the list there. He would have gone TO Lon
don next day and cashed them, had he not
numDers-may be forgiven for the falsehOod
| told on the Occason.-but, assuming that
the notes would be stopped, he wrote to Capt.
| Continent and his habit of dealing with large
sums OF money, was a convenient agent for
the the PURPOSE If fancy Bob had had similar
though he sOlemnly affirmed that he had not.
| AS Robert said. he was no scholar, and had
not noticed, i'm using one of my'enveiopes-fOr
| the sake OF ecOnOmy-fhat there was any but
| an ordinary device on the seal. If he had he
| would have thought nothing of il and he was
stu IN wonder as to the way in which We found
4 out his appointment with White. He had sew
ed the notes up in his cowSkn waiStcOat the
| day after he stole them i'm fact that was his
occupation on the morning of my visit. And
he secured place Of safe deposit for his money
by paWning his waistcOat ON his way to meet
| Capt White.
| After all. Uncle Henry made lot of money,
| through being obliged to hold on to his cotton :
for II rose suddenly a half penny a pound, on
| receipt OF disastrous news of the new crop.
| He behaved very handsomely to Kate on the
| occasion of our wedding the other day Ioften
| SILVER when think of how nearly had ship
| wrecked all our prospects for life by a mo-
| mentS carelessneSs; and, under Providence
and next to my wife, Kate, have nobody to
| thank so much for getting me out of the scrape
| as Her Malesty'S Postmaster General. who
! sent me that unopened dead letter