Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-03-14

the young man sat down with visions
of policemen and prison bars passing
before his eyes. The aunt took a seat
directly in front of him and stared at
him in a cold, cruel way-a way that
gave him to understand that she would
let no guilty man escape. After three
or four minutes Winnie returned to the
room to say:
That's always the way. Central
|, tells me that the line into the city is
crossed or something and it may be
an hour or more before they find out
the trouble and remedy it,"
"Then l will go back and tell your
father the situation said Mr. Gray
"Some sharper has the bonds, and the
police should be notified at once
"You will sit right here until that
telephone wire is in working orderw
announced Aunt Ruth There are
men about the place, and we have dogs
and guns, and if you try to run away
it will be the worse for you. Winnie,
notify the coachman that we have a
suspicious character in the house"
''She needn't do anything of the sort.
I will sit here until you have solved
the mystery. 1 am to blame for losing
the letter, but if the bonds are not re-
covered it will not be my fault"
"'He doesn't look like suspicious
person. whispered Winnie to her aunt,
but in tones loud enough so that he
caught the words and turned red
again
'He may not to you, who can't tell
robber from a church deacon. But he
does to me, and here he shall stay until
we know all about it. You sit down in
the hall and wait for the telephone,
and I'll keep him under my eyes"
Aunt Ruth leaned back in her chair,
folded her arms, compressed her lips
and fastened her eyes on Mr.. Gray,
and had he been q bunko man of ten
years standing he must have been
disconnected AS it was, he coughed
and blushed and hitched around and
crossed and recrossed his legs. When
the aunt broke the silence, it was to
impart no cheerful information. What
she said was:
sit makes you squirm to realize that
you've reached the end Of your rope at
last, but you'll squirm more still when
the judge pronounces sentence. While
pity your poor mother, hope you'll
get at least ten years"
Mr. Gray made no reply. He couldn't
find words. About every ten minutes
for the next hour he received a brief
vigorous lecture until he was almost
worked up to the point where he
thought Of jumping through a window
and taking his chances, when a mans
step was heard. There was an ooh
papar' from Miss Winnie in the hall,
and Colonel Graves stalked in to ex-
claim:
what in the devil is the matter
here?''
There he sits!' replied Aunt Ruth
as she pointed to the culprit
1t took about ten minutes to unrayel
things-that is, to establish Vincent
Gray's identity. Fortunately by this
time the telephone was working, and
fortunately Mr.. Jones was in his office.
1t took five minutes more to discover
that Winnie had given the false mes
senger Honduras instead of Mexican
bonds and that the colonel was simply
relieved Of some waste paper.
When it came to apologies and invit-
ing Mr.. Gray to forgive and forget and
stay to dinner, perhaps a full quarter
Of an hour was consumed but it is not
on record that Mr.. Gray regarded the
time as thrown away.
Now when the colonel smiles and
throws out hints at his prospective
son-in-law Miss Winnie bushes and
protests. Aunt Ruth assumes one of
her sweetest looks and says:
II don't say I shall leave when he
becomes one of the family, but I do
say that l shall always lock up my
jewelry when l go to bed and lock and
bolt the door,