Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-08-15
DAILY SHORT STORY
A REALISTIC AFFAIR.

fOVGnal

| the first time acted cTiminally. One day
| he left n twenty dollar bill on his desk,
went into another room for ten min
| utes, and returning missed the bill.
| Calling his chief clerk. Frank Shepherd,
| into his Office, lie said 10 him:
| Mr. Shepherd. a twenty dollar bill
has been taken from my desk at time
| when no time but the clerks was pres
emit Please tell them for me that If the
| one who took it will return il lie will
not be prosecuted nor even lose his
position. He Will remain on probation
| Shepherd went away and the next
morning confessed that he was him
self the thief. He laid twenty dollar
bill on his employers desk, received n
| kindly but impressive lecture and with
drew. That night lac wrote a note to
| Beatrice Chaffee, TO whom he had re-
Gently become betrothed, telling her OF
the incident and Offering TO release her
| from the engagement.
| Let us take back step in our story.
| Shepherd had proposed, waited day
| for an answer, working himself into
fever lest he be refused. and ut last re-
ceived an affirmative reply. We hear
| q great deal of the Inconsistencies Of
women; the Inconsistencies of men are
usually concealed. Frank Shepherd eX-
| perienced very severe case of maScu-
| line inconsistency. The day after his
| acceptance he sank into Il state of
| melancholy. Whether this came from
reaction, an overburlening sense of the
| obligations he was assuming or some
| thing of both, mingled with 4 great
| deal more ii is impossible To say;
| nevertheless he would have given
worlds if he had not been accepted.
| Beatrice Chaffee made no reply TO
her lovers confession for several days;
then she wrote him that she was much
influenced by what his employer had
| dOne-in fact. found herself in much
the same position as Mr.. Upton. She
felt that she ought 10 give him a
| chance to redeem himself, and she had
decided to do 50. If lie would come
TO her in two years with Il record clean
! from the time of his first sin she would
| give her answer Il second time. Mean
while they We're not to have anything
to do with each other. and he was TO
be free to marry any one else.
| One Inconsistency is liable 10 lead to
| another. First, Shepherd had been in
| terror lest the girl would refuse him;
| second. plunged into gloom because she
had accepted him; third, being free, he
was plunged into new gloom because
| he was free. What distressed him be
! yond measure was that he was Il con-
| fesscd thief and must wait two years
TO learn if he would be taken again into
| favor.
One day his employer called him into
his office and said 10 him:
"Shepherd, yOu didn't take that TWEEN
ty dollar bill you confessed to have
| stolen" ....
why do you say sou
Something about your way of con-
fession made me suspect that you were
doing so to shield some one else
left marked bill on my desk. had the
room watched by detective and
caught the thief"
| Shepherd was silent.
| The lady TO whom you were en-
| gagged came to see me about the matter,
| wondering if you did not have some
| motive in making Il confession of hav-
ing stolen what you did not steal.
| have proved now that you did so TO
shield the real thief, your cousin, Mark
| Leonard"
| Shepherd started
Il have sent for you to say that Leon
| ard will he treated with the same
| leniency l have shown you, and that
| you are not only cXOnerated from all
blame, but stand far higher in my esti-
| nation than ever
After Il pause Shepherd asked Upton
| IL IN ha1 fDfnr,DnI Miss cha n
these late developments. and received
| the response that he had left that pleas
urc TO the man most concerned. Shep-
| herd thanked him and was about to
withdraw when he turned and said:
Il would like 10 have you inform
Miss ChafTee that l am not the real
thief, but say nothing as to the motive
for my confession"
Upton promised to do so Mt once.
There had come crisis in Frank
| Shepherds life. Emotional people run
risks that other people are free from,
but so long as there is an undercurrent
| Of principle there Is always q day Of
grace for them. All Shepherd had to
| do to be restored TO favor was to let
| the matter stand on his employers in
| depreciation. Strangely enough, to do
SO was no temptation for him. He had
| preferred to be considered n thief to
| standing in the position of man who
| had one day begged a girl TO marry
! him and the next day asked her to re
| lease him. Now that he really wanted
! the girl he ScOrned TO take her under
the false supposition that he had acted
to screen his cousin. This is what lie
did. He wrote Beatrice Chaffee the fol-
| lowing note, which reached her stimuli
| taneously with Upton's letter to her in
| forming her that her lover was not a
| thief:
| I had no sooner learned that you had
consented to marry than ! was sub
| ject to a terrible reaction in which there
entered many elements OF doubt. When I
was told that the money had been stolen
| confessed in order that YOU should break
| E-,-.-r-.-