The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-06-02

She paused, half-persuaded that he
would even now own the theft.
He twirled button of his ill-made
jacket, and looked persistently at his
boots, which Miss Farley saw were quite
new and ridiculed his patched trousers.
Were the boots purchased with her lost
earnings? The suspicion hardened her
heart.
You understand my meaning. Ar
vid. mislaid my purse. Did you pick
it up?"
I" Me? No, ma'aml" answered he.
stoidly, turning his right sole upward
and running his fore-fnger along the
pegs.
Tell me the truth, Arvid; the boys
shall never know. If you kept it, poor
child, you were sorely tempted"
Kept it, ma'am! Do you suppose
/ stole it?'' demanded he, in apparent
rage; but in spite of his air of Injured
innocence, Miss Farley was convinced
that he trembled guilty..
" You kept it to return it to me, 1
hope, Arvid."
"Who says did? Who says I'm a
thief?'
" / only know, Arvid, that 1 missed
my purse shortly after leaving you
alone in this room, and when came
back for it, it was gone"
"And so you blame it on me, ma'aml
That's always the way. Everybody
blames everything on Arvid Ek'5
=" You are impudent, Arvid; you for
get yourself"
"I'll tell my father of this. He'll
take me out of school, he will He'll"
Stay, Arvid-"
But, choked with fear, or passion, the
boy had rushed from the classroom,
leaving his teacher to expostulate with
the bare walls. She looked after him
with hopeless sigh. AS well appeal
to the conscience of fierce Young
Viking, as to his. Well, if he would
not confess his sin she could not help
it. She had done her best She saw
him once more next morning. He had
come for his books, accompanied by
his father, who greeted Miss Farley
with such a torrent of reproachful
Swedish that she was frightened, and
almost regretted having spoken of the
missing money.
Its loss was a serious ANNOYANCE in
another way, for now she must do
without the coveted hat until the fol-
lowing quarter, and she had especially
wanted to appear in this hat at the
Perabo concert Friday evening. She
was really afraid Charley would be
ashamed of her in her old turban, and
she could not don it without a grimace.
She was Strengthening its brim at the
glass the day before the concert, and
thinking how shabby the velvet looked
in contrast with the cuffs of her cloak,
when it occurred to her that these cuffs
were not alike-one fared too much.
In trying to smooth out the offending
wrinkles, she felt hard substance be-
meath, and thursting in her thumb and
finger, she drew forth the missing
portemonnaie.
She must have slipped it into the cuff
instead of into her pocket, while wait
ing that afternoon for Arvid Elk, and
there it had lain undisturbed for four
long days! Thank fortune, the money
was safe! but dear, dear--to think she
should have accused the poor lad of
thieving, when she herself was the
criminal! 1t was shame! She would
apologize this minute! Without STOP
, ping for gloves, she hurried away to
find the Eks, who lived in discouraged
looking house by the canal. They had
finished dinner and Arvid was feeding
the dog on the doorstep when Miss
Farley picked her way round the corner.
{" Good afternoon, Arvidr' said she,
pleasantly.
His only answer was surly sort of
grunt, as he threw down a second bone.
g came to beg your pardon, Arvid.
was unjust to you the other day."
He grunted again, only half catching
her meaning.
L" I'm sorry doubted you, and l do
hope you'll forgive me. And, now,
don't you want to know where l found
the purse?'
What, ma am! Have you found it?
Why, then you know l amt thief!
Didn't tell you l wasn't? Oh-oh!"
and here the great, clumsy fellow ac-
tually cried.
AT this Miss Farley cried, too, to
think how she must have wounded him,
and her tears melted Arvid's resent
ment so effectually that when Elk
crossed the threshold, a few moments
later, to 60 to his work, he found the
two chatting together in the most
friendly way.
He regarded his sons teacher with a
bewildered frown, and was slow to
overlook her insult in suspecting the
honesty of member of his family. In
deed, if Arvid had not pleaded, his
father would have kept him from school
and this would have been a pity, for
the boy became one of Miss Farley's
best pupils.
The new hat? Oh, yesl Miss Far
ley had it in season for the Perabo con-
+ cert, after all; but, as to the ecru gloves,
= she invested the price of those in a
, comfortable warm cap for Arvid, and
, wore her old lavender ones.
/ However, Charley never knew the
: difference, and if you could have seen
his face that Friday evening you would
have known he was not bit ashamed
of her.-Penn Shirley, IN Golden Days.