The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-09-27
How NARROW Got His Thief

l4O" Vldt ~" OOt l1lS lllCl.
Its not only the money he has TAX
en- Mr.. Ritchie was saying, ''but it's the
thought that l trusted him and that he
has cheated me. l liked him. liked
him the first time l saw him, and I've
trusted everything to him almost from
the first week he came-and that is over
a year ago. Now, it maddens me-the
thought that he was thief, after all!
Only catch him and half the $1,000 he
has taken shall be yours. Put him in
the dock. l don't care what it costs me.
Let me see him punished. Let me sec
him caught. Go for him for all you're
worth, Mr.. NARROW, and the very day
he is charged III give you check for
f5OO!"
The detectives thin face flushed. He
was young and unknown: and 80 far had
never had a chance. Now it had come;
and he might not only make his reputa-
ton, but $500 as well. and that last
would give him all that was best in the
world to hin1-the girl he loved for wife;
and without it it might be years before
he could afford to marry.
He turned eagerly and gathered up his
papers and notebook.
~! lose no time" he said: ''1'll do my
almost hopeless task. Fred Emberson,
the thief, had had a good twelve hours
start: He had gone at o'clock the
day before to the bank to pay money in
and to cash check as usual ready for
paying the mems wages on the morrow,
and he had never returned. The check
had been cashed, the money never paid
in, and Fred Emberscn had vanished.
Mr.. R!tchle was a hard and bitter
man. He had been soured five years be-
fore by the disappearance of his only
daughter. She had met, at the house
OF some friends she had been visiting, a
man with whom she had fallen in love.
He had been ineligible in every way-a
poor man with no prospects, with appar-
entity nothing to recommend hm-but
that made no difference to her.
Mr.. Ritchie had stormed and ragged.
had refused emphatically to see him, aud
had forbidden her ever to mention him
again. She had refused. She had tried
FOR some months TO induce the two men
20 meet. she had persisted in sticking to
the man she loved. and then she had run
away and married him.
Mr.. Richie never forgave her-never
would: He returned all her letters I'M
opened. He washed his hands Of her and
settled down, bitter and soured, to live
out the remainder OF his life in hard
work.
Now. to find that he had been deceived
again seemed to make him more bitter
than ever. At first he could not believe
that his trusted clerk mad really done
anything wrong-he would turn up and
explain, he thought, and he waited until
the morning before he sent for detective.
Now the last doubt seemed removed.
Fred Emberson had not been seen at his
lodgings since the morning before, and
from his desk at his office had gone every
paper except those bearing directly on the
business Of the FIRM
Mr.. Richie locked up at the detective.
Hes arranged it all. of course" he
said angrily. He meant to 60. He al
ways goes to the bank on Fridays to
draw the money ready to pay the men
he'd Seiza the opportunity, Of course. You
see, he's left nothing behind in his desk
not q SCRAP Of paper to betray him. Not
a thing Everything was arranged"
The detective nodded.
Il must see what there is at his lodg-
ings,' he said. "A criminal always gives
himself away somewhere. He can't helm
be a dangerous place for honest men. But
they always leave something undone. and
very often it is the cleverest thieves who
are the easiest to catch in the end.
They're too clever sometimes
Mr. Ritchie nodded. Detective Mar
low pocketed his papers and went on;
from the office into the noisy streets OF
the busy Midland town.
He sent his men to the station to make
inquiries. and then made his way toward
the rooms in which Fred Emberson had
lodged during the year he had been with
Mr.. Richie. He went up to them, ques-
tioning the landlady as he went. and get
ting no information, except that she had
not seen Emerson since he had left for
his Office the morning before.
Upstairs NARROW found everything in
order. The rooms were just as Ember-
son had left them. He might be coming
back in half an hour. The chest of
drawers was full of clothes and Uttered
with knick-knacks-pipes and pouches
and tobacco. There were boots arranged
underneath, carefully polished; brushes
and combs lay on the dressing table, and
a writing desk stood close at hand. But
single scrap Of paper, not letter or AL
envelope or bill. Emberson had ar
ranged everything. There was nothing
to betray him-not even an ink mark on
the blotting paper.
NARROW looked round in some dismay
when he had finished. He couldn't find
single clue, not a thread to start a
search, not thing to 60 upon. and he
made close search, too, for the thought
Of the $500 reward made him strain ev-
cry nerve.
He was almost giving up at last, when
suddenly a tiny scrap Of cardboard fallen
between the mantelpiece and the wall
caught his eye. He took his penknife
and began forcing it up. 1t might be
nothing, of course, but he had turned
over every scrap of paper and every book
in the room, and he would miss no
chance. =
The cardboard came up slowly. It was
wedged in firmly between the mantel.
last and held it up to the light. :.
When he saw it he gave a little gesture
of disappointment. 1t was the photo
graph of a child. That it BELONGED IA
Emberson seemed the last thing likely.
He called up the landlady and held Il
out to her. She shook her head over IL
She had never seen it before, but It mnst