Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-04-02

document, whether from the credible and
the pro oable OF from the plausible and per-
,suas We, or from the pure y literary pc Mt of
.iaw He was not greatly skillet, as may be
supposed, in fct on considered as a fine art
VII oh is, perhaps, the reason why he was quite
sa isfied in his own mind with his statement,
looked at from any ront of view.
Read it, his father repeated "Let me
hear what you have found II l. is rue
He stopped, because he knew not what he
should do if it wer' true.
The Young man he>iiated no longer With
periec ly steady eyes, viii h met his father
e4rles>ly and frankly, AMI with brazen
front, and with clear, ,nhesitating voice. he
lead the thing he had made up.
Before I begin this sta ement the words
formed p TT of the narrative-"I wish to ex-
pla that no hing but your express COM
u1and tina should investig lte the case for
YOU w ould have induced me to write down
what know about it. You will consi Ter it
as in Cart, a confession"
Mr. Murridge looked up sharply and sus-
picicusly.
Yes as you will presently see," Dick re-
heated, answering that glance, "a con ession
When the duty of aking up an inv tigating
this case was laid upon me, my Lips which
would otherwise have rem line shu.. as
DO Mt of honor, were opened Ii did not
oony your command to the fullest extent,
innocent rer ons might be sus ected and
even be punished. | have, therefore, re-
solved upon telling you al hi, l know
e hatever il opens. And since l must write
down the truth l ray That further ac-
ton may be iaHen i'll the case, and hat this
+ lrf
and dl o~ped, never to be men ioned again.
Nv h it the devil do you mean by .lhat.'
his father cred ',The sne>s forgotten!
The matter allowed to drop 1 o look like
the man 10 forget such a hings No further
action. indeed! Wait, you shall see what
further action l shall take.'
Dick did not stop to press this petition for
mercy.
1T is now four weeks, he continued, read
ing from the paper, since had the misfor-
tune-it was great misfortune to me. and
am very sorry that it happened-to OBJ
Sc We. gu tie accidentally, a ce tain suspicious
circumstance which took place in your own
office This circumstance caused me the
greatest uneasi .ess and suspic on at the
time, and has fl led me with anxiety ever
since. Of course, as you will Immediately
under tand, directly you spoke to me last
week m suspicious turned to certainly /
was, as >ua in the outer Office and l had
nothing 20 do but to sit and wait for any
work which might be sent out The time
was qu~rter past two. You were gone ont
10 you dinner, and the hoy was gone to his
There wa, therefore, no one at all in the
place excep myself. BefnA went on
you locked up your safe with your papers in
it. know that. because as you pa sed
rh no 60Or HrOnna6 fha
keys into your pocket. You left your own
door wide open. A few minu5>s afterwards
tc my aston shment, Noah Cronan came in
Is your tat er ina she asked, in a whsp-r.
/ asked her j.. she knew what time it was,
and whe her she expected regu ar man
like YOU % be in at a quarter past two. no
made no reply, but went into your office
very quickly and shut the door. As she
passed me | remarked that her face was red
and her eyes looked swo len a, if she hal
been CRYING I dare say you yourself Lave
noticed that for some time past, she has
been ont OF spir. ts:''
Mr. Murrdge grunted; but what he meant
is not known.
She hut the door, but as sometimes
harpens, the lock did not catch, and he
door stood air.. From The place where
was sitting coull ses through the door,
and could cat Oh some hing of what le was
about. ! was not curious, but looked, and
observed that she was tearing something
out o. book This was such a strange
thinr to do that it caught my eve. Why
shou d sh- come to your office, when you
We out in order to tear leaves out OF
book9 1T certainly seemed 10 lie Look of
some kind, bu from nv pl ice l was quite
unable TO see wha. it was. or whv she was
tnar If I'm TDpn Sha fnlda6 fto leaves
very careful y, and SO far / could see,
put the j IN her pocket, A ter few minutes
she anne GU ruin. Of cour | was, bv
tn time, very curious indeed. but asked
no questions. man does not like to seem
curious a out thing which he has seen,
so 10 speak, through a lie hole.
noticed, however, that her breath
was quick, and That her h nj 1rem-
bltd. And she said a very s.ranse
thing to me. Dick, she said when your
her com S b ok do not tell HIM that l
came here. l on came to get SO nethng-
something ich l torgoj his morning,
nothing of any impor ance.' She STAN
mered great deal while she said this. I
told her that it was no usiness OF mine
whe her sh, came or whether she aged
away, becau } h. d nothing do with her
or her work hen she laid her hand on my
shoulder an looked into my face But
promise, Dick, she said You see we are
such old friends. and l. end Daft is
your ON friend. We ought to be able
to derend on YOU Promi;e dear Dick; say
that YOU viii never tie Your father thai
came to his office any dry when he was out
o. IT. NATURALLY promis ID A she went
away. AS soon as he was gone l went into
your office to find o wha she hid been
tearing if 1 could, being still curious
and not est satisfied WI b mys,lf
for having made that promise. There
were .wo or three grelt books on the
table, your gene Illogical books. But she
woull not tie likely to tear any O. the leaves
out OF them &c use thew not the only
copies. l coke about, therefore, and pres
emily. poked away under some papers, l
found your check book lying on the taple.
took it up and examined it. l do not know
why. bee ,uss had no suspicion OF this kind
Of tn ng. What was my astonishment TO
discover that six of the checks had been
tax n out of The bookl Six; they were
scat cred b re and there, not aiken out in
lump. Ibis of course was n order 10
lessen the Oh nee of immediate di covery ]
never before knew that YOU were in the
habit OF leaving your check book out his
was the thing that / found 1t was after
wards, when began to think ABOUT 1t, that
l connected the leaves torn out of the book,
and so carefully folded, with the check
book"
Mr.. Morridge's face, which had been at
first expeetant and in crested, was now as
black as Erebus.
80 on he said sect on faster Let
us finish with this"
e},(zI;
IL