The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-12-16

i
perhaps it would be just as well ifyou
kept still,' said Miss Blenkinsop.
please don't say you don't 'sabe' for
you do, you know"
An angry voice cried through the
panels, "Letee glo!'
Il can't really" said Miss Blenkin-
sop.
1t took all the presence of mind Miss
Blenkinsop could summon to her
aid to hold the greasy half yard of braid
in her hands. She was afraid to let go
for fear it would slip into the room,
where she had no donbt that the baffled
Chinaman was pulling with all his
might to make it more secure, she tore
off one of her bonnet strings and wound
it around the knot and knob, admiring
her own ingenuity with complacence.
"Now [ can think, she said.
Thinking was not such an easy mat.
ter with an oily Celestial and a pre-.
dicament confronting her The awful
consequences of her successful capture
now began to present themselves for
the first time. Her first feeling had
been of righteous Indignation to punish
the offender, but she began to consider
the cost to herself of such step. She
would be the heroine of the headlines
of to-morrow's issue of the paper, to
say nothing of being the victim of end
less chaf, til ,ugh no one had ever yet
sop.
Could she endure these compound re-
suits ? She, who had never been ridi-
culous or conspicuous in her life She
fairly wrung her gloved hands together
in an agony of indecision. Oh, why
had it ever happened Why had she
given way to an impulse and gotten her.
self into this mess.
''It must have been common streak
in me somewherep she murmured II
suppose [ wanted to do something he
roic OF great, or something!' sarcastic
cally. 81 wanted to do what was right,
anyway"
There was bell just outside her
door-extremely easy to ring it and
have crowd there in minute. A
crowd! Miss Blenkinsop shivered.
After all. how did she know that the
Chinaman had really had time to take
anything! He would certainly not con-
fide in her if he had Then, too,
prisons Were not the most delightful
places in the world, and even China
man might have an aesthetic aversion to
them. Poor fellow, she would like to
be spared the pain of knowing that she
had been the cause of making wretch
of course, he was a wretch-more
unhappy than he really was Not to
mention the relief it would be to her
self to be rid Of the responsibility Of
bringing the creature to justice, which
was always hard on the nerves.
Miss Blenkinsop unwound the ribbon,
united the knot of hair and opened the
door.
''You might as we'll go, 1 suppose.
I shouldn't know what to do with you
anyway" she said, languidly, as she
held the door.open, with a look on hel
face at once apologetic and affectedly
indifferent.
The Chinaman did not pause to re-
mark the nice shades of meaning on hel
countenance, but picked up his bundle
of washing and scuffied sadly away,
giving Miss Blenkinsop a glance SC
amazingly compounded of gratitude,
cunning triumph, stolid stupidity and
panied reproach that she mused about
it probably for several moments Sc.
quent, only to come to the mortifyine
conclusion that "they were too subtle
for her.
The fact that she had let crimiaa
out at large on society did not sit will
any great uueasiness on Miss Blenkin
sop's conscience The great thing was
that affairs had been SO beautifully sim
Iplified. Perhaps, too, this would teach
him lesson in regard to the mutability
OF human existence, especially in the
line of stealing.
sit certainly was rather nice of me tt
let him of, she reflected with immense
complacence. II don't believe [ have
any of those feelings of revenge anC
malice that are so disagreeable and low
and exhausting."
She passed on into her room anC
stopped at her dressing table. There
were the open drawers and everything il
disorder, and her carved jewel box wa.
gone, small affair that she kept hel
lesser ornaments in-the safe downstair.
held her more valuable jewelry.
What was it Miss Blenkinsop triet
to remember. Oh, yes the opal neck
lace and one or two rings.
The bonnet string was lying on tn,
floor. Miss Blenkinsop stopped anG
picked it up and threw it into the fire
then she drew off her long gray kit
gloves and threw them into the graft
also and raked the ashes over them
Then she went and washed her hands
San Francisco Examiner.