Evening journal., 1905-02-20
Under Suspicion
[original1

+ III DOuttht duQ WoIkcu Auh assay
ers. Phil was a redheaded, freckled,
generally homely fellow. attentive to
business and despite has unprepossess-
ing appearance very attractive to wo-
men. This l accounted for from his
smooth tongue He could say more
6atteTing things to a girl in a few min
utes than could say in a week. In
deed his remarks were such palpable
fiattery that l wondered the girls
would swallow them.
There came a leakage in the gold
dust passing through our hands, and
was suspected Of being the thief Up
to this time Florence March and had
been getting on admirably, but now
one day heard Boutelle pay her one Of
his slckening compliments, and from
that time she seemed to be completely
under his influence. Then heard that
Boutelle had accused me.
The leakage in the dust was very
small, but 1t was constant, so that In
course of time it must be very large.
The thief had some method of carrying
it away in infnitesimal quantities, but
with great regularity. was called into
a private Office one evening after stop
ping work and searched. The other
clerks were put through a similar proc
ess, but nothing was found on any Of
us. l was put under special suryeil-
lance, and it was not long before / dis
covered that new man who had come
into the assaying room and who ap-
peared to have taken a desperate fancy
to me was watching me-
Florence March gave me to under
stand that she did not believe l was
guilty, but instead OF resuming her for
mer relations with me she accepted
more and more Phil Boutelle's atten-
tions. / charged her with her perfdy,
which, though it panied her, made no
difference in her treatment of my rival
and accuser My position was indeed
painful Conscious Of being suspected
by my employers and fellow clerks and
watched by a spy. / saw the girl who
should have stood by me associatng
on terms of intimacy with the man
whom I believed responsible for the
suspicion resting upon me. Boutelle
endeavored to maintain friendly rela
tions with me, but l spurned him.
But one day the tables were turned
1 missed Boutelle from his work and
upon inQuiring learned that he had
been arrested the night before. Durinl
the morning was called into the Office
Of my employers, and an apology was
made to me for the spying that haC
been done on my movements.
"You have discovered the thiefT'
asked
"Yes."
ITO a certaintyT'
"Yes."
How was the discovery accomplish
ed?'
THAT is a secret"
! / returned to my work and that after
noon passed Florence March on tn
street. Now that was vindicated AM
the man she had taken up with in m.
stead was known to be the guilty par
ty, 1 felt that I could show her m,
opinion Of her conduct with a bette
grace than before. I walked by he
without looking at her.
] Boutelle pleaded guilty, so there wa
no evidence brought forth to show HOY
his iniquity had been discovered. Thi
was very disappointing to me. On
day soon after he had disappeare
from the world, while I was in tn
private Office Of my employers, aske
if would ever know how the culpri
; had been discovered.
"Why do you wish to know?"
Because a girl whom l respected do
serted me for him, though he accuse
, me Of the crime Of which he was hin
! self guilty. I am curious to know NOR
z on her account"
e "Do you refer to Miss Marchl"
y 81 do"
After a few words whispered be
r tween them one Of the partners said:
Miss March discovered Boutelle'
rascality."
I was thunderstruck. How did sh
! do it?' I asked.
$ "For that you must go to her"
III hurried to Florence. She cam
n down to see me. maintaining a reserve
Il am told you discovered the thief,
= / said would you mind telling m
s how you accomplished it?"
: II suspected him from the moment
!, heard he accused you. Besides. he wa
too broad with his compliments.
seemed to me they were intended
ooror uorao ohfaof
"You mean that?"
+ Certainly"
/. "And why did you desert me fc
? himg"
y ITO rescue you from the position 70
|, occupied"
= "And how did you do that?'
h 'I tried to win his confidence, bu
y failed"
"WellY'
81 can't tell you any more. You wi
e blame me-"
d NO" / said. now knowing that sh
l. had saved me. Il will not blame yol
\ / now believe in you thoroughly"
''Well, I permitted him to become 6
intimate that one evening he sat S
near as TO put his head just above IN
J shoulder. When I went TO my room
saw something sparkle on my dress.
n brushed it into a china cup, and
proved to be gold dust. 1 gave the II
formation, detective was put on Boz
telle's track, and It was found that
had been carrying gold dust away
] "a ~. 90