Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-10-25
here. l suppose she can do all that is

here. | suppose she can do all that is
necessary"
Dolie was very much excited when |
told her my mission. and evidently be-
ieved that she herself was going to be
tried and imprisoned for theft. 1t took.
ne all my time TO reassure her, and she
trembled like leaf as she was ushered
into the room where the prisoner sat- or
rather crouched 1t was not an ordinary
prison cell, but looked dark. gloomy,
bare and cherries enough to be the real
article.
We stood for a moment or so. until our
eyes became more accustomed to the
semi-dusk. And then--was going mad
or dreaming? Was il Dollie who was
kissing and cuddling her late companion,
all the time murmuring words of en-
dearment? Suddenly the prisoner raised
her head, and / saw, not the lineaments
OF Miss Lucy Firman as portrayed in
that unlucky photograph, but the face of
the most rarely beautiful girl | had ever
seen in my life; face which seemed
strangely familiar, and yet one which /
could have sworn | had never beheld be-
fore. Burning wrath took possession of
me; to think Of what that delicate girl
must have suffered my anger rose TO
boiling point.
"You IDIOT" I shouted, turning to the
detective. what do you mean by such
conduct as this?"
There is evidently some mistake" he
answered, i'll a confused way. And yet
| am not to blame" "a
"This young lady is my sister-in- law.
Miss Leslie" here broke i'll Dollie.
and you'll have to answer for your
behavior, both to her brother and me-
interrupted, furiously.
The detective glanced at me with calm
contempt.
LET me explain" he said addressing
himself courteously to both young lanes.
Pray, madam" he continued, lis not
this your photograph? ?"
Miss Leslie bent forward and looked
earnestly at the bit of cardboard. 1T
is" she answered, quietly, but may
ask how it came into your possession? ?"
Before the man had time to reply recol.
lection returned to me; my sin of six
months ago lad found me out. The
pretty painted photo which l had DELHI
erately stolen from my friends house
was a likeness of Miss Leslie, whom |
had never seen. And that photo | had
given-inadvertently true; but stll /
had given it to a sleuth hound of the law.
III order to hunt the original down And
well he had performed his task. Alas!
too, too well.
do not care to dwell upon the time
that followed; the explanation l was
forced to give; the frgid silence in which
my stammcring apologies were accepted;
the-the-i fact, the awfulncss OF the
whole thing
1t makes me hot even now to think of
it, but not quite so warm as did Ger
tain question which l pronounced to a
dainty little maiden about two months
afterward. "I-I-don't know" she fail
tered, mischievously, whether | could
marry a kleptomaniac! And then !
stopped her with a kiss. But afterward /
had some slight difficulty in explaining
how it was l had carried Miss Frmans
photograph next my neart for a whole
month. and never found it out
When you took the trouble to steal
my likeness poutcd my beloved the next
| day, YOU might have had the grace to oc-
casionally look at it And it was only
when | gravely declared that the mute
| evidence of my crime became after time
unhearahle to me that the smiles re-
| turned to my darline's face.
You goose she retorted lightly. 1t
was simply because you had forgotten
| the incident"
And rather think she was right
New York Daily News