Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-06-08
DAILY SHORT STORY
A Decoy.
[original.1

was twenty-eight and l was twenty.
Was it the rich tones of his voice, his
handsome eyes, peculiarly winning
smile that attracted me, or was it none
or all of these? l don't know, but from
our first meeting l loved him, and some
thing told me that he was to have an
important influence on my life.
Then came reports of money being
taken from letters passing through our
post office. The excitement died out,
| and it was admitted that there might
have been some mistake. Meanwhile
Clarence Trevor was advanced and oc-
cupied private office. One day L
| went to this Office to ask a question
concerning my department. There was
no one in the room. On the table lay
letter and its envelope. The latter
| had been torn open, and the former had
been taken out. On the desk also was
twenty dollar bill. The envelope was
not addressed to Trevor, nor did the
letter pertain to him in any way.
1 trembled. Clarence Trevor, the
man secretly worshiped, was thief.
But what could have induced him to
leave the evidence of his guilt in this
exposed position? l heard u step in the
corridor. In an instant 1 had clutched
the letter, the envelope and the bill and
| thrust them in my pocket. The person
in the hall entered an adjoining Office,
| then another, then came into Trevor's.
He was IL man 1 had never seen.
Come with me- he said.
"What for?"
81 came to arrest every one in these
| offices. You are the only one l can
find. All the rest are out. Where is
Trevor?'
81 don't know
He took me down to the postmaster's
office, where l was searched and a de-
| coy letter with the bill it contained
found in my pocket.
Then came a mental struggle. Should
l accuse the man in whose room had
found the decoy? Would l be able to
screen myself. by doing so? With the
| faith of n woman who loves l believed
that there must be eXtenuating circum-
stances. / would not accuse him.
My people were broken hearted over
my disgrace. l thought it singular that
they should not have seen from my de-
meanor that l was bearing another's
L
never have borne myself so serenely.
1.-The girl seems to have no sense of
good and evil or shame" said the news
papers.
Clarence Trevor attended the trial.
watched him closely. Under n calm
exterior l could see signs of great men
tai anxiety. When l was asked to
plead l said, Guilty. and looked at
Trevor. He turned away, with shud-
der, and left the court room.
The day before l was to have been
taken to the state prison Trevor came
to see me. His agony was terrible, but
he concealed it from all but me.
You have wrecked my life he said.
81 can understand your feelings.
You think you suffer more than if
had acted differently"
How could you, whom / marked for
q true woman, be a.
Thief? Don't spare the word. l
am content to bear it,"
Half a day later and there might
have been even more between us-if
that could be. 1t was my intention on
the evening of your arrest to have ask
ed you to be my wife"
what? With the sin on your Shout
ders"'
"What sin?''
"The sin for which I suffer-
He looked at me with blank stare.
'What does this mean?' he asked.
In twinkling understood what he
could not understand. He was not
guilty. He did not know that 1 was
sacrificing myself for him. 1 sank
down on prison stool and. leaning my
head against the wall, gasped:
"Thank Godr'
"This is maddening. For heavens
sake, explain"
ION the day of my arrest went to
your Office. You were not there. /
found the decoy on the desk. Some
one was coming. 1 seized it and put
it in my pocket"
My head swan and for a moment
1 lost sight of everything. Then he
was kneeling at my feet, looking up
at me with an expression 1 shall not
attempt to describe.
/ received his avowaI of love, his
prayers that would be his wife in
cell.
How he darted away to the lawyers:
how there was a stay" followed by
an order for a new trial, and 1 was
taken out on bail, are matters which
seemed to me to follow one another
rapidly, but were slow enough for
Clarence. The reason for all this was
kept a secret, though 1t was stated
that new evidence would be brought
out at the next trial. As soon as was
liberated the matter was suffered to
drop, and was told that new detec
tive scheme was in operation to dis
cover the real thief who, fearing de-
lection, had attempted to throw the
proof of his guilt on Clarence Trevor.
Clarence had not been away from his
Office a minute when 1 entered it. and
some one very near his Office must
have been the guilty one.
Several months passed and we were
getting discouraged when one day