Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-03-02
ANOTHER Way.
tWritten Tor the VIRGINIA. CITIZEN

4 NSNA WIN (iS1 tISdSuTeT b
office" lettered on it was locked.
Within sat man who for half an
hour had gazed steadily at an item
on the first page of the afternoon
paper the newsboy had left.
He was still the treasurer; the item
referred to him as such, but it was
just question of how long it would
be before that paper would have half
columns notice of him as ex-
treasurer.
1t had startled him more than he
had thoughtit would. OF course, he
had known it was coming; there was
no help for it, but to see it in plain
print on the front page and to know
that at the same moment others were
reading 1.-THE stepped to the window
and drew che shade down carefully.
Then he resumed his seat and tried
to look into the future.
After all there was a grim relief in
knowing that matters had come to an
end. For months he had been tor
tnred, not knowing what hour the
blow would fall.
There WAS no way by which he
could restore at once what be had
used from the public funds. At the
best it would mean years of labor
aud sacrifice, and he bad practically
nothing with which to protect his
sureties. There was apparently no
way to prevent an open disgrace, with
all it meant to him and his; aud he
did not feel he could stand that.
When it was quite dark he took
his way carefally through the side
streets of the town TO his home and
through side window looked for a
while or what pierced his soul the
most. lie was reaping the result of
his own rashness, but they at least
were not to blame. He did not feel
he could face them again, and SO,
with one last look, he turned away
into the night
He laid his plan skillfully and
when two days later warrant was
issued for his arrest, he had disap-
peared from the land of bis birth,
leaving no trace for either Justice or
Love.
Not for nearly two years did they
get a clue. Then. a keen-eyed man
-saw a letter addressed to the wife
from a postoffice on the shore of a
bay far to the South. Not long gaft.r
that another new man applied to the
fishermen along that .bay,ehore for a
Job, afid irfs a pocket = vest was a
photograph OF the city Rasurer who
had left his home in the North,
owing his sureties eight thousand
dollars.
The bow of the boat grated on the
sand, and the embezzler stepped
ashore ahead of his companions.
1t was almost dark. He stood
peering at the bushes along the
waters edge before walking up the
path to the farm house where he ate
and slept-when he slept at all. It
was not home; that word had been
out of his vocabulary for two long
years.
lie thought of it all now, as he
had thought of it ten thousand times.
For year after he had fed he had
been ashamed and afraid to write.
Then he wrote over an assumed name,
aud she answered. She begged him
for her sake and the children's sake
to come back, face it all, and begin
life over again; but he would not.
He had been at this place on the
bay shore for six months. He went
with the fishermen to their traps out
on the bay, and worked some on the
farm where he boarded. The people
there were not inquisitive, but he was
suspicious of them aud fancied they
were suspicious of him. A loaded
revolver lay on the mantel in his
room and he could feel the pressure
of another on his hip.
+ For two weeks there had been
another stranger among the fisher
men. He did not look like a man
accustomed to that life, aud the en-
bezzler thought, as he had thought
many times, that detective was on
his track. He at fret avoided this
jovial fellow and then ceased avoid
ing him lest suspicion be arosed.
He had not been so guarded with
the newcomer since they became ac-
quainted. They had been thrown
together some, and no suggestion had
fallen from the lips of the other man
to indicate that he wanted informa-
ton about the embezzler's history.
In fact, for several days he had
been working with the crew of another
boat.
If the embszzler could have read
the telegram the jolly fellow sent
North the day before, and could have
seen him and the other two officers
as they concealed themselves in the
farmhouse late that afternoon, he
would no longer have had doubt
about the errand of his acquaintance.
The men had sorted the fish and
anchored the boat. They led the
way to the house, and the man with
the gnawing at his heart followed.
His face turned ashen when the
light went up 10 the room and the
jolly mans hand fell on his shoulder.
"Philip Rymer, you are under arrest, %
he said. There was no merriment in
his tone now.
The embezzler shivered; "I don't
understand" ne faltered; "you've got
the wrong man, guess" Then in
wardly cursing himself for his lack