The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-04-08

0l1O COUIu uCv0I kCG uAm ~ S0y W1l0t
she was like, as he used to declare that
he couldn't do her justice. I will say
she was not one of your awfully- pretty
girls; she was pretty, but ! think
it was her general behavior and move
ments and her conversation which were
more calculated to win q mans love.
Many Sundays passed on, but each one
found Ferguson over at the Thorpe farm
and always to church in the evening.
Sunday was the bright star which he
kept his eye upon all the week before,
and he generally contrlved to see Annie
for few minutes at their mutual friend q
on their way home.
1t appears that these young ladies and
their mother were spending a few months
at this charming village, it house rented
for the purpose by their father, man OF
business in West Riding; and, as the
winter drew on, they began to think of
returning to their home in the busy town.
Will to all appearance, was no nearer
gaining the affections of Annie then be-
fore he saw her, and, yet he felt it was a
step, and, indeed, stride, in the right
direction to have her acquaintance. It SO
happened that the day the landlords
went home Ferguson started on bust
ness journey, and contrived to travel by
the same train as his lady friends. He
met the tram (of course by accident)
at St. Olaves Junction, and there
enjoyed the Unreasonable delight OF
a two hours ride in a railroad car along
with the girl he was anxious TO win
What matter if her father and mother
were IN the same compartment It was
enough to sit beside her and talk idle
nothings and commonplace bits of stale
news, and then it paved to something
boldcr. When they parted he took her
glove, and, as the train moved on, bear
ing her to her home, he dared to throw a
kiss while her parents were not looking,
and as she nodded and smiled, he knew
for the first time that at least he had
made fair beginning.
Time wore on, and Ferguson, in the
course Of journeys which he often made
in connection with his business, occasion
ally called, and once spent a whole Sun
day ut the landlords house at Hamilton
After a time the landlord girls went to
Beacondalc on visit to to the Vicar, and
then once more Ferguson was a regula,
attendant at the church, and once the
girls spent Saturday and Sunday at the
Thorpe farm, and he drove them to church
in his gig. And all the time Will Fer
guson was being bound tighter and
tighter by love chains, which he could
not throw from him. So he resolved tc
follow matters up, and at the first favor
able opportunity to speak to Annie and
her father of his feelings, and ask fol-
chance, any rate, if only
That it only. 1t was gnawing at one
side of Ferguson's heart as his love fol
Annie was gnawing the other. Something
lay heavily on his mind, and his friends
noticed that he walked often with bowed
head and knitted brows. He stuck to
the Office until late into each evening, in
stead Of leaving, as was his wont, at i
o'clock, to spend his evenings with gen.
ial companions in various ways. Yet nc
one but himself knew what the trouble
was. The fact was he WIS short in his
cash he had rashly used some of his
employers money in some mad specula-
ton, which had failed, and to make this
loss good, he speculated again. This
also proved failure, and he grew reck-
less and took moro and more. He never
kept account of how much money he had
used, and he was ut last afraid to balance
the books to see. However, he at last
sternly resolved to do something, even il
he must borrow money, and, in doing So
tell the whole story.
He was the only one who need take the
books in hand, and his employers would
take his word entirely as to the balance,
without personal investigation; and, after
the annual stock-taking, etc., he weu,d
have whole year to refund the money
He had good salary, and he would save,
and borrow from his friends, and quit
this mad and foolish practice which he
had called borrowing, but which he saw
now was nothing less than theft.
Alas, this chance was not giving him
Just toward balancing time he was laid
on a sick-bed and kept there for many
weeks, during which time one of the
partners in spirit of kindness, and to
save Ferguson additional work when he
recovered, set to work to balance the
books. Not word was said to Fegus-
son, but soon after he opened drawer
and there saw a sheet Of paper contain
ing names and figures, and at the head
he saw jotted in pencil, Accounts marked
off the ledger, but not in cash book 1t
was Saturday, busy halliday at the
works, and Ferguson went through his du-
ties mechanically. On his way to the
bank for the wages, he called IN ut his
lodgings, packed couple of valises with
few necessaries, ard also called to say
good by to some of his particular friends,
saying he was going to Manchester for a
few days. Having I'll ished lis work at
the Office, by 9 o'clock he was seated in
the railway train, with little cash and a
heavy heart, fleeing from Milton, his
friends and the law, and going he knew
not whither2
The next weeks Milton Neaos contained
the following paragraph:
A warrent has been issued for the apprchen
sion of William Ferguson, lately in the en-
ploy of Messrs. Noble Il Croaker. It is
stated that he is a defaulter to the amount CT
G70O. Ferguson was last seen at Merthyr
Tydoil, in Wales, and has been traced 10
Swansea.
The news came like thunderclap on
the little world of Milton. where Fergu-
sen was we'll known and respected. 1t
was the talk of the town, but like all
nine-days' wonders it died natural
death. Not SO, however, in London
home, where a fond father and mother
were almost heartbrokcn at this news
of the son of whom they had been
so proud; not so in more than one
home at Milton; not so at Thorpe Farm
and not so at the landlords home at
Hamilton. In all these places Will Fer
guson had been something more than an
ordinary acquaintance, and in these
places dwelt his true friends friends
even in his disgrace. Annie landlord
then found out for the first time perhaps
how much she cared for Ferguson, and
the poor girl felt the blow keenly. But
she had some natural pride, and though
she pitlcd the poor fellow in trouble she
felt she could never again have anything
to 90 with a man who had to flee to es-
cape felon's cell. And so Ferguson's
name gradually dropped out of converse
ton though not out OF mind.