The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1888-03-22

growing alarm, SO with astute caution
l asked with marked distinctness if
the lady objected to tobacco-smoke,
comforting my face the while with
signs that she was to answer in the
negative
She confessed to a decided prefer
ence for the odor of good cigar.
THANK you for the permission,
madam; deprived of my smoke, real
ly suffer-.
1t was such relief to speak after
our solemn interchange of written
sentiments upon the ragged edge of
the Times. that l was prepared to give
utterance to any amount of garrulous
platitudes. l lighted match, talking
volubly the while, and when it was
blazing. purposely dropped it upon
the floor, exclaiming noisily at my
own awkwardness: "It was my last
match. too. 1 really must try to save
a spark of it to light my cigar
l Istooped to pick up the burnt frag-
ment, and took one sharp. comprehen-
sive glance beneath the seat. My COM
panion was right-a man crouched
and huddled there among the shadows.
His face was turned away, but saw
his hand clearly, upon the back of
which the letters as. NJ" were lcgible
through the dirt and CRIME.
At sight of this Misunderstanding
hand my heart began a merry dance.
Not from fear-my self-respect obliges
me to protest against this possible i'm
putation-but because we seemed to
have in our clutches the rogue who
had stolen poor Jacks medals. 1
might dare to present myself before
Mora, after all. instead of hanging
back like whipped hound.
"Am 1 not right?" the lady said,
with her eyes this time. instead ofwith
her pencil.
eyes" l wrote; "we must give the
fellow in charge as soon as possible.
Don't let him know we suspect his
presence"
1 reflected that our precaution of
writing every thing referring to the
culprit was perhaps needless, as a COM
mon thief from the Riviera would
scarcely be likely to understand En-
glish; still, in such cases, the extreme
of prudence was better than the lack
of it altogether.
The half-hour elapsing between the
discovery of this man and our arrival
at the next station was fraught with
ill-concealed terror for the sharp-faced
lady, and much repressed excitement
for me. Would the man dash out,
and either attack me or make good his
escape before the train stopped? Far
better for me to be worsted in a tussle
with him than to lose him and his
booty forever. 1 could not form a
guess as to his strength, not having
seen more of him than the branded
hand. For the lady's sake, devoutly
hoped we might be spared scuffle.
Presently, to my intense relief, the
train began to slacken its speed, and
the hoarse voice of the guard shouting
the name of the station sounded like
celestial music in my ears. 1 seized
upon the first official l could find, as
we stopped. and he collecting the de-
sired force, made short work of arrest
ing the man who was stealing his ride.
He was dragged forth with very little
resistance; he saw how useless a fight
would be, and was soon in safe Gus
tody.
To my inexpressible joy, poor jack S
medals were found upon the thief S
person, together with the greater part
of my aunt's property.
The man, a hardened scamp, was
disposed for joking and sarcasm upon
the subject of his own detection.
"Were you mad or asleep when you
betrayed yourself by touching that
lady's foot?" 1 asked.
why, you see, sir" he replied, with
leer. "those Englishwomen have such
sticks of legs covered with black stock
ings, l mistook this old girls for the
leg of the bench, and took hold of it to
give myself bit of a rest. Never was
a fellow so upset in his calculations
than was when that leg moved 1t
was an unlucky mistake"
Whether her ankles were those of a
sylph, or like drumsticks, l was de-
voutly thankful to this lady for the role
her black stockings had played in help
ing me to recover my stolen property.
As 1 assisted her into the train for the
conclusion of her journey, l inadvert-
emily saw for myself that the thievish
rascars mistake about the leg of the
bench was not altogether surprising.
l wished l might in some way be of
service to her, in acknowledgment of
the great help she had given me, but 1
feared this exemplary desire could
never be realized, as 1 watched the
train disappear. bearing her with it
Two days later was in Paris. and
the happy recipient of an invitation
from Miss Moncrieff to dine with her
at the villa where she was temporarily
lodged, ten minutes distance by rail
from the city. ''Miss Gould will meet
you at the station with the carriage"
the note concluded.
Descending from the train at the sta
ton indicated, l noticed a neat little
Victoria drawn up in attendance, and
alighting from it length of spare
black ankle with which L seemed
strangely familiar. 1 scanned the
owners face, and as 1 expected. be-
held the well-known lineaments of the
lady who had helped me to bag my big