The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-05-26
TIE EVENING STORY
The Inspectors Romance.

Once every three months-now day or
TWO earlier, and now a day or two later
inspector Cranforth had entered the diff
1erent poStoffices on his route and check /
ed up and Strengthened out affairs. There
We're postmasters who had seen him grow
OLD and gray since his appointment. They
mad always found him a pleasant-spoken
ana Just man, but all stood in awe of
MN. In no department of the public ser
wee IS Uncle Sam more particular than in
the postal The cash must balance to a
cent With the postmasters' and any man
OF woman who attempts to play tricks I
with his letters are certain to ind them
se4Nes pursued with relentless energy.
inspector Cranforth was generally re-
garded as fiint-hearted man It was
understood that he was an old bachelor
ana mad never known what love was. He
accepted no excuses from postnasters
and INDUCED in no flirtations while trav-
ehng At 50 years of age he had got TO
FOR just what he was. Outside of his Off
clansIn ne had q heart as warm a 8 any
man S, and one reaSon-and perhaps the
mann MAN one-Why he had not married was
the fact that he had always maintained a
nome Tor a mother and a crippled sister.
-. 80 ,sssiils1y cou4u 90 no more one day
WindfaH came in the shape of a legacy,
ana II the inspector had dreams of nlatri-
nony ana a hreside all his own, no one
could blame him.
Those who looked upon the man as flint
hearted did not know the ms and outs of
4 the case at the Dover postoffice An old
soldier had been postmaster there for
years When be died his widow took his
place. When she died her daughter Mary.
who had known the Inspector since ba iov-
mood was left motherless, fatherless and
i almost penniless. 1t was the inspector
who paid a part of the undertaker's bill:
II was the Inspector who had Uncle Billy
got Mary Williams a cierkship that prac-
! tically made her postmistress and finan-
fclaily Independent.
Even the girl did not know the extent of
ms kindness When he found himself
asking why he did it, he found himself re
p4ylng that IN two or three years more he
I hoped to be in a position to marry. At
present present his feelings toward the eirl we're
mercy patefnaL What they might be in
self.
It was said that Inspector Cranforth
took more time for inspection at the Do
Yer postoffice than anywhere else. Some
/ or the village gossips said il was because
of Mary Williams, who regarded him as a
! friend and was always glad to see him
come; and others said he had his ave on
Iiilie Langron, the daughter of the village
lnnkeeper. It was the talk that the two
girls were rivals. and the innkeeper's
daughter at least came to believe it and
70 Ieel bitterly toward the girl in the post
once The situation of affairs was just
plant against the Dover postonice.
William Penfield,son of Deacon Penfield
was IN the habit of sending his old father
ll11gy from Iowa every month or two.
/ Wilham was of an economical turn and
ald not want to pay registry fee nor the
premium exaeted for a money order. The
olll was simply inclosed in a letter The
father was inclined to be garrulous and
70 look upon 1t as smart trick to get
ahead of Uncle Sam, and so in time every
one in and around Dover came to know
what would have been more prudent to
be kept secret
money letter was missing. Old Mr.
Pen1eld haunted the postoffice for a week
and then wrote to William. William made
aHidaVIt that he wrote and inclosed a ten
collar Dill on certain date. 1t was the
business of Uncle Sam to send out a
tracer, and for one of his inspectors to
follow It up. Inspector Cranforth took his
ter into the Dover postoffice
BY that time there was great ado in
the town Old Mr.. Penfield hadn't hesitat-
4 ed 70 express his opinion that some one
right in the home postoffice had cribbed
ms letter ana distracted the money, and
OF course he referred to Mary.
She claimed TO be innocent, but there
were those who held to the contrary, and
~ his Investigation further there was
great excitement. To the intense indigna-
ton OF hundreds of citizens. the investiga-
tion was held within closed doors; that
is, Mary was questioned only in the pres
ence of a justice Of the peace She was
nervous and excited and shaken She ad-
mitted her belief that such a letter had
arrived about such a date, but what had
become OF it, If not delivered. she could
The establishment was a combination
grocery and postoffice- A person could
have sneaked into the postoffice part from
the grocery. but they would have had to
get the Penfeld letter They would have
also had to hit the exact date of its ar
rival
Every incident Of the day was recalled.
but suspicion could not be directed
against anybody. The letter had arrived
but what had become OF it was q puzzle.
Two hours talk was leaving the investi-
cation just where it had begun, when the
outsiders demanded that the girls trunk
at her boarding place be searched. She
went pale in an instant, but as the inspec-
tor noticed it a suspicion lodged IN his
heart When asked if she were willing
she heSitated and finally declined. Even
the good old justice who was her friend.
looked at her with pity in the face. The
inspector stared into vacancy a moment,
: and then his mind was made up.
trunk?" he asked.
II" she Stammered.
Yes; but-but-''
Then you took the letter2''
: '-oh, I couldn't have done it, never
'.Then where did the bill come from?''
I can't tell you Please don't ask me
letter. but II cant tell your
Poor girl" sighed the Justice as he
walked across to the hotel with the in
I've got duty to do was the. reply,
When the inspector had reached his
room he sat down and wrote out his resig
nation, to take immediate effect Some one
else would have to arrest Mary W WI rs
had been thinking of her for month past
as his wife It seemed impossible that she
should be guilty. and yet the inspector
sent to do his place must arrest her
on her own showing. The man was feel
ing more sore at heart than ever before in
his life when he heard two female voices
in the next room There was a vacant
StOVep1pe mole just ABOVE MS neaO lndl
let every word float through. The women
we're the innkeeper's wife and his daugh-
ter. and he heard the mother say:
'tTille. where did you get that ten dol
lar bill chaneed2'
AT the butchers" was the reply.
And what did you do with the letter?''
Burnt it up. Don't you go fretting
over things. They say that Mary will lose
her place, but nothing else will happen.
/ want to get Mr.. Cranforth IN the parlor
tonight and sing and play for him..
Ten minutes later the inspector was at
the butchers. asking questions. He went
from there to the postoffice for few min
utes' talk with the accused girl. When
he had asked a question or two she re-
membered that on a certain date when
she had half a dozen letters in her hand
she had been called into the grocery part