Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1901-10-25

known and received with great servil-
lty, and when a tray OF jewelry was
placed before her I felt sure that the
next half hour would clear her Of OIL
suspicion or complicate the case still
further. Her manner was that OF lofty
c~ondescension. She slowly and Ian
guldly inspected the Jewels, and now
and then the proprietor OF the store,
who was waiting upon her In person.
had his attention attracted for the mo
ment elsewhere. My lady finally de-
clded 10 call again and was bowed out,
aud she was hardly clear Of the door
when I revealed my Identity TO the
jeweipr and asked him TO be sure that
there was nothing missing from the
tray. lie was at first inclined TO adj
minister q snub. but when he found
The finest ring Of The Tot c~onspicuously
absent De- almost fell over in a faint.
There was no room to doubt that the
lady had lifted" It. hut that only made
the case worse y a way. For a trades
man mud n detective TO charge n lady
OF quality with shoplifting was as bad
rs treason against the crown. a mere
word would bring financial ruin upon
the jewelrr. and he was ready to stand
the loss ten times over rather than
speak It,.
Twice more within the next fort
night ! followed the lady into jcwelry
establishments and morally convicted
her Of shopiifting. This made six cases
IN an. and. 40 matter how the victims
feii. we OF The Yard were quite deter
mined that something ought to be done.
/ ial hren on the stan for ten years.
and my work had given good satisfac-
ton hnt ! was selected as a sacrifice.
] moan hy ihat that { was ordered to
secure an Interview with the lady, in
form her of my discoveries and take
the Consequences. I must take all the
burden on myself and clear the Yard.
There could he but one ending. and
before making my call my Resignation
was written out, and | bad arranged
to 20 with n private agency. One
morning / appeared at the residence of
the marquis aud boldly asked for my
lady on important business. | was
kept waiting until she was satisfied
that / was neither u process server no
a creditor and was then admitted to
the presence Of n very slipshod looking
woman who showed me scant courtesy
when she said:
"Vcll. sir, you are here, md now
what is itf'
ITS about the jewelry. my lady" l
replied.
"What do you meanT'
"Tbe finger rings from Blacks, the
sunburst from Browns, the earrings
from Green's. You carried them away
ana forgot to return them
My Iady's face went white ms snow,
and she gaspcd for breath, and / ex-
pectcd to see her faint away. by n
tremendous effort she pulled herself to
gctllcr. and as the color came back to
her checks she Kissed at me:
"You dog. youl The marquis shall
see that you get your just desertsl
Leave the house at oncel'
left. aud within an hour the mar
quis was Mt the Yard to say that he
would uproot the whole system If I
was not promptly bounced and an apol
ogy rendered. Tho Yard %apologlzcd, I
was bounced, and my lady had n story
for her friends about attempted black
mail. There were no more thcfts, how
ever. and as q private. detective ] even
recovered some Of the stuff from the
shops where my lady's maid had pledg
ed them to raise cash for her mistress.