The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-10-08
She rose siowly and tottera to her

She rose slowly and totterl 10 her
closet, and unlocked little writing
desk on the lower shelf and took ont tns
tea dollar aIl, AMI came shanefacei
ara trembling and laid il On the doc
tors knee. He TOOK it up, scrutiniEei il
al over, as Anne ha1 done, and discov-
cred in one corner the faint letter b,
with a little cross il blue ink. Why"
saSd he, astonished, ''this is the missing
bill How did you come by il. Mrs. Bis
seil?a
- The color flooded his landIady's thin
brown face away up TO the roots Of her
gray hair, and tinged even the tips Of
hcr ears. "Don't you know, DR.. Tlbbets,
yeE gave it 10 me for beard" she said
sltwly. 81 gave it to your" He ran his
ks1ds through his light locks and sat
dumb for moment, stricken with sur
prise. Then light broke in on him. II
see now" he exclaimed. ct was that
scoundrel Doyle, whose thief's name is
Shifty Mike. He called ne in that night
for the baby, the first night call had in
Littlefield. see now it was all trick
to pass this bill off on me and save him
self from suspicion, for there really
wasn't anything serious the matter with
the child. When he offered to pay me
remember at first thought could not
make change for SO large a bill, but
finally did manage, and then I stuffed
it into NY pocket, and thought no more
ABOUT lt-neye- looked at 1t, in fact, un-
til that day gave it to you"
Mrs. Bissell did not look up. Her face
was still scarlet, and sho was trembling
like a loaf The doctor rubbed has fore
head, still perplexed. 'It has Just oc-
CURED to me-" he said, smiling little
wistfuily, ''that yor might have thought
but no, you did not think / was a
thief" his frank. sunny smile broke out
all over his face: 1.-The thing is 1oo ab-
surd You couldn't suppose that I had
sneaked up there into the attic and taken
yonr.money out OF the bureau drawer"
The poor woman looked SO distressed
he wanted TO spare her. ''And Miss
Anne" he stammered, did Miss Anne
could Miss Anne really think had
stolen?' The words choked him and he
stopped short.
No, no." protested Mrs. Bissell,
stretching out her hands. "She could
never think anything to your injury.
She believed you were perfect gentle
man, and as honest and true as the sun.
She said she would stake her life Or II,
and she got down on her knees and made
me promise l would never let you know,
would never breathe word to harm
| You in this town. She knew II it once
| got wind such as she, "motioning toward
Miss Carver's room, would soon tear
your reputation piecelneal. She said
she'd go away and not come back til
| you were cleared, as she knew you
| would be in some way, and the poor girl
has been sick waiting, but she never lost
faith" Mrs. Bissell paused, and ther
went on ia a low, broken voice, ''I was
| to blame, doctor, and I ask you to for
give me, though l don't know as yor
ever can, and now guess must 60 and
telegraph to Anne to come right home,
and she rose from her chair.
"No," said the doctor, quite pale, and
putting his hand on her arm. Let mt
I go to Bells Cove. l have something K
say to Anne. If we come back together
tomorrow afternoon we shall come bach
pledged to each other for life
"Oh, DOCTOR" and Mrs, BisseI began
to cry. = always did say you were ths
only young man I ever should care tx
have for son. But we are poor, hum
ble folks, though l will say it for Anne
she's good girl"
The doctor and Anne came home to
gether the next day, and now DR.. Tib
bets has the largest practice in Little
field. He has paid off the mortgage OF
the 3issen place, and Bridget O'Neil ha
been living in the family for severa
years. The Littlefield people have Ion:
ago forgotten that the doctors wife wa
ever outside the pale Of the best set
Miss Carver has enthusiastically adopted
the little pill practice, and now speak
of Mrs. Iibbets as "dearest Anne" i'm
plying that she has always lived will
her On terms Of the closest intimacy
New York Times.