Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-12-21
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
An Improbable Job.


husband with n pretty wife. He had
some suspicious which could only be
cleared up by having his wife con-
tinually watched, and for this purpose
it was requisite to have n lady who
would go to her as n companion while
he was abroad and report to him every
little thing she said or did during his
absence.
Good pay" the detective said quiet
~ when 1 announced my decision of
altering my mind and not undertaking
1t. "You will make 5000 in n fort
night, have no expenses and nothing
to do but be with the lady and go
with her erywhere-theaters, con-
certs. balls. all sorts OF things. More
over" he went on quietly, Il don't
think you will object when you have
seen the lady. l have no opinion in
the matter at all. but she seems
quiet, sweet little woman, and you
may be the means of clearing up this
suspicion about her and so restoring her
happiness. Wait until you have seen
her."
/ did, and my heart went out to her
at once. 1 felt that by clearing up
these suspicious 1 should be doing one
of the best things l had ever done in
my life. and agreed to go to her on
the following Monday.
81 don't mind so much when my hus-
band goes away" she said, with lit
tie smile. because 1 know it is neces-
sary for his health. but 1 do feel n
little lonely sometimes. of course, and
he is always so thoughtful about me
in every way. He can't bear TO think
of my being lonely. so he insisted on
my having a lady as companion this
time or, he said, he wouldn't so at
ALL"
By the little flush of happiness on
her face i knew that as yet she had
not the faintest idea that he had such
base suspicious of her as to degrade
her by having her watched. and
prayed heaven she might never do so.
Meanwhile i wrote to the husband ev-
cry day. giving n detailed account of
the way in which each hour of the day
and night was spent by her.
I had been told that ii was suspected
that she had many gentleman visitors,
and my instructions were to take par
ticular notice of this. / did so. but the
ladies far outnumbered the gentlemen.
and those who came were mostly old
friends of herself or her husband
cousins or distant relatives and broth
err who came often. | often wondered
what that brother would have thought
had he known his sister was being
continually watched by a lady deteC-
tive.
imagined how he would have Ioath-
ed and hated the sight of me and how
he would have resented my presence
there. AS It was. he was particularly
nice to me and Invariably sat near me
and chatted pleasantly. on one occa-
sion even going so far as to say how
he looked forward to seeing me and
how pleased he was his sister had some
nice girl to be with her. But when
one day he brought me some flowers.
with a few whispered words, felt as
IL the blossoms themselves would sting
me. The room swan in n mist before
me, and when l had the courage to
look up at him my eyes were swim
ming in tears. He was looking down
at me in n contemplative. curious way,
and there was a pleased little smile
round his mouth. while his eyes told
me something which made my heart
beat furiously.
No words can tell how miserable l
was or how I wished had never I'M
dertaken such work. / could not stop
now / had begun. and simply longed
for the time to end. 1t was the injured
little wife herself who continually
quite unconsciously, of course-tortur-
ed me beyond words. She would sit by
the hour together telling me of her
husbands goodness-what a dear, true
fellow he was. how devoted to her. how
she really believed he thought she was
a perfect angel (this with a little. hap
by laugh and how he spoiled her. But
the last straw was when one day she
confided to me, with n little regretful
sigh, that she often felt she was not
good enough for such n splendid man;
her happiness was more than she de-
served, etc.
But the fortnight drew to an end at
last, and the husband came home. He
was q good, Straightforward, honest
and honorable man as far as all other
things were concerned, but he had been
cursed with the demon of jealousy, and
the anguish OF his own baseless sus-
picions had well nigh killed him.
! must say / considered he had thor
oughly deserved all he had suffered,
and when he came to thank me / told
him so. AS for the money, nothing on
earth would have made me take it. and
1 think even he felt ashamed when
said this.
'You are not fit to touch the ground
she walks on" 1 said Indignantly. "She
is far too good for you. but you have
your life before you. and that is not a
bit too much to spend in making up to
her for all the injury you have done
her."
He took it quietly, and the next day
1 said goodby to them. with many tears
on her part and mine. There was an
other reason for these tears-her broth
er had proposed to me. and I had re-
fused him. 1t cost me much, but II was