St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-25
MY AUNT'S EARRINGS.
ST. James Budget.

~. .tllSo 'uNSNUs
Detective stories have always been
my favorite form of literature. [ have
read many, and have gained from them
a thorough contempt for probability and
the police. The first thing you Id
do when crime has been committed. as
often said to Uncle PotfkinS, is to suS-
picon the most unlikely man as being
the criminal.
That was the co urse | adopted when
Aunt Potfkins'S earrings were stolen.
1t was in the morning when the theft
was discovered. Aunt came down late
Potfkins, Dora and | were breakfasting.
and she had forgotten her cap.
My earrings" she cried. They are
gone-they are stolenW
"God bless my soulw exclaimed Uncle
Poffkins, dropping his teacup as if he
had been shot and leaping up with
yell of pain. lie said the yell was at
tributed to the heat of the tea, which
was trickling down his legs.
My aunt explained. The earrings
were kept wrapt i'll cotton wool in a
jewel box OH her dressing table. The
box was never locked, and the house
maid had access TO the room. The girl
had only been in the house week, and
was known to have beau. My aunt
and cousin at once concluded she was
the thief, and sent for policeman.
who searched her trunk and found
nothing, of course. could have told
them that.
Meanwhile l kept my eye on Uncle
Potfkins. He was the one person who
could have no motive whatever i'll steal
ing the earrings. He was very rich.
most respectable and extremely slow
and noisy in his movements; moreover,
my aunt would have given him the ear
rings at any moment If he had asked
for them. Evidently he was the last
| watched Uncle Potfkins closely.
We passed week of excitement. The
police were running out and in. Dora
cross-eXamined the housemaid inces-
sanity. Aunt Poffkins went abroad
weeping and reminding every one she
met that the earrings were present
from Uncle PoffkinS on the occaSisn Of
their engagement.
My uncle himself affected to make
light of the matter. and went so far as
loudly and oStentatiouSly to curse the
earrings. He was wrong If he thought
he could put me off the scent by that
clumsy maneuver. never left him
alone; | tracked him to the city, hung
about all the morning. Swallowed lin
when he went to lunch, when he re-
turned, when he crossed over to the ex-
change.
Unknown to him l was on his bus
inside if he rode on the top, and Oil top
when it raned and he slowed himself
away inside. He never escaped me eX-
cept when he was in his office. At last,
after ten days weary chasing, was re-
warded. | need not say that the police
had discovered nothing. The house
was still topsy-turvy and my aunt
subject to intermittent Mysteries.
That wronged creature. the house
maid, did her work with mop in one
hand and in the other handkerchief,
wet with innocent tears. But to return
the earrings had disappeared, as he WIS
brushing his hat before leaving the
house and looking at my yaunt'S tear
believed visage, his conscience smote
him. and he so far forgot himself as to
eXclaim audibly:.
Pm blamed if can stand this any
longerr The folly OF the man was in
credible. had him now! In an instant
| was after him. He took bus, l took
a cab, and started for the city. Now
came the odd thing-Uncle Poffkins
disappeared.
How it happened | do not know. but
when the 'bus pulled up to the bank
Uncle Potfkins was not to be seen. |
questioned the conductor, but he had
evidently been bribed, and told me very
rudely that he had something better to
do than answer my riddles. lie drove
on, and | was left for the first time at
fault.
1t was evening before I saw Uncle
Pofkins. / was going home i'll very
disconsoate state, when, about two
hundred yards from our gate, | eSpied
him ahead of me. Quickening my pace.
| stealthily approached him. de opened
followed him,
A little further on. sheltered by the
shrubbery. he stopped, and, after a
stealthy glance towards the house, took
from his coat pocket small morocco
case. | stood on tiptoe just behind, and
with mingled horror and satisfaction as
| looked over his shoulder, | saw tn e
earrings! L was right! Uncle PotfkinS
sighed.
'.Shall give 'em to her or not?" he
said to himself. Its rank waste. Still,
it will keep her quiet" | watched the
struggle between his good and his evil
angel Clearly the good angel had tri-
umphed so far as to bring the earrings
within fifty yards of Aunt PotfkinS, b ut
now came the tug of war. 1t was severe,
and it ended in the victory of evil.
Uncle Potfkins, shutting the case with
a snap, exclaimed:
Its all blamed nonsense I'll take
'em back to Abraham tomorrow"
Abraham, now doubt, was the receiver,
for my uncle went Oh in satisfied tone:
Hell make no trouble about taking
'em." He was putting the case into
his pocket when my feeling Overcame
me. Respect for ones elderly relatives
is praiseworthy feeling, but it must
not be allowed to override higher du-
ties. flung myself on Uncle PotfkinS,
crying:
"Surrender! You cannot escape mel"
My uncle fell heavily on the gravel
path. | fell heavily OH the top OF him
and plnioned his arms to the ground.
Toni" he exclaimed, what the mis-
chief-are you drunk?"
at is useless, SIR" l began, "to af
feet ign" | had reached this point
when was violently coIlared from be-
hind. lifted bodily off my uncle's chest,
where | had been sitting, and was de-
posted on grass plat, while a deep
voice said in my ears:
Nov, then. young man, turn it up.
You're lively 'un, you are. FurSt yer
aunt and now yer uncle" The new
conner was policeman. From his
pocket he produced pair of handouts
and put them on my unreSiSting wrists.
Then found my voice.
"What are you Handwriting me for?'
l demanded. There's the thief"
"Gammon!' said he, grinning.
why, you fool, there's the property"
said |. He looked and saw the earrings
lying on the ground by Uncle Poffkins.
An expression of bewilderment over
spread the officers face as cropping
again in his pockets he brought forth
a pair of earrings. Then, gazing at the
pair in his hand to the other pair On the
ground, he calculated softly, and, to my
ears at least, mysteriously:
These Earrings in my 'and was
;voW RI