Los Cerrillos rustler., 1891-05-01
sun TOOK A xorE rRou rnE rnrr.

sHE TOOK 4 NOTE PROM THE TREE.
fought shy of any acknowledgment of
the sort She was in his house To care
for his children and to manage dome ,tic
matters, and that was no ones business
| but their own.
haven't told you about the bank II
was situated just a square from his
house, and exactly in rear of it. The
house fronted ON one street and the
bank ON another. and there was no
alley between. Indeed, the rear yard
of the house led right mp to the near
door of the bank, and Mitchell used To
come and 90 through the yard. In
rear of the banking rooms, divided off
by the usual railing, were the private
offices and the vault A burglar alarm
was connected with the front doors and
windows, but none with the back A
large and savage dog guarded the rear,
having a kennel close to the door
What the banker wanted 10 see me
| about was this: lie had not only missed
money from his wallet at night, but ON
two occasions considerable sums of
money had been taken from n small
safe which stood in his Office outside
the vault. One of the mysteries was in
the taking of the money. He employed
teller and boollkcepcr, neither of
whom had key to safe or vault
unless il was duplicate made without
his knowledge Neither had the word
of the combination of the vault, and it
seemed impossible that they could have
taken the money even If so inclined.
Both were perfectly honest so far as
anyone knew, and Mitchell was all
tangled up over the mystery. He hadn't
talked TO me five minutes when | would
have taken my solemn oath that Mrs
Gray was the guilty party, but, of
course, didn't drop hint of my sus-
picions to him. When it came my turn
to asks questions / found out that he
was very sound sleeper; that he oc-
cupied n front bedroom with his son:
that Mrs Gray and the girl occupied
one in rear of his, with an entrance To
both from hall; that the keys of the
bank safe and vault were always kept
under his pillow at night. In addition.
Mrs Gray had won the hearts of his
children, il not his own, and il was
only by the strongest argument that
she had been induced to accept a salary
of ten dollars per week while occupy
ing her position. II was as plain as
daylight to me that Mitchell meant to
marry her in due course of time, but It
wasn't at all plain as to what sort of n
scheme she was working.
took the case, told Mitchell had a
theory, and then began to study Mrs
Gray. found her to be a sweet and
innocent-looking little woman, SEEM
ingly devoted to the children, and had
l not been a detective and a married
man ! might have fallen in love with
her. 1t was in summer and she was
out n great deal, and was on hand to
follow her. 1t seemed TO be time thrown
away, however. She was shy, prudent
and apparently all right and had put
in a month on the case and made no
discovery when the outside safe was
robbed again. A deposit and some
bonds had come in at the last moment
and had been placed there for the
night The whole thing amounted
to about nine hundred dollars, and
bonds and greenbacks were missing
next morning The safe had not only
been opened with key, but the bank
had been entered by unlocking the
rear door. No one could have entered
by the front without sounding an
alarm. No stranger could have entered
by the back on account of the dog, who
was wide-awale and all right.
When Mitchell sent for me to give
me the news was perfectly satisfied
that Mrs. Gray was the guilty party.
! believed she had the nerve to enter
his room in the night, secure the keys
and then slip through the backward.