The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1907-02-04

room-in a burst Of good fellowship
cares for them, furnishes them up to
meet their lady friends, and incident
ally relieves them Of a ten-twenty-
fifty, as the case may warrant, you
would call that man a thief, would
you not? And with all good reason.
SO then, Bettison was a thief But
wait; a thief from necessity, not pref
erence. Certainly not the pinching
necessity that makes men beg bread,
shovel snow or work in mines, but a
sort Of refined want-the lack Of those
little dainties Of life without which
some people find it next to impossible
to exist The paltry two thousand a
year, Bettison argued. would be scarce
" sufficient to keep him in trousers,
to say nothing Of enabling him to wed
the fair lady of his heart, she who
claimed all that was good and best In
him.
A thief from choice is essentially
mean, scheming, without honor A
thief from necessity may be none OF
these things-or at least not all Of
them-only weak pitiably weak, and
with conscience.
Still we shall have to admit that
Bettison was thief. common thief,
Notwithstanding this nicely Of distinc.
ton.
On this particular morning the gen
tleman in question reclined before an
open window, reading and rereading
a curious letter that the mornings
post had brought him. It was the
third of a series. The first had caused
him some uneasiness-mostl amuse
ment-the second looked serious, and
now this other forced a sense Of dis
tinct alarm upon him. The following
il what he read:
Il have appealed to your honor
your conscience, your pride-all to nc
avail. am now going to try youi
common sense. Stop this miserable
practice at once. At present it Il
known certainly only to myself, who
am your best friend l don't wish t.
disclose my identity. SO take this, tn,
one way to help YOU Common sense
will show you that, although over al
anonymous signature, there Is cnl,
truth in what | say. The time vii
come when exposure will be inevita
BILE Take my advice. The world pro
vides labor for every honest hand
and you yourself have keen distast
for this business A FRIEND"
Bettison crumpled the sheet of pa
per viciously and tossed 1t In the fire
place.
"D-n such letter." he fumed. .
the fellows really my friend, as h
says, why in thunder doesn't he com
to me in a decent way and talk
over?" He snapped his finger with
little gesture Of annoyance and too
one or two excited turns up and dow
the room. Then he paused in from
, of the CRATE and fished out the crun
pied letter from the charred ashes an
studied 1t narrowly. 1t is fact tha
our attention to trivialities is yer
marked at time of great seriousness
or Importance, and 1t is no less tru
that our faculties are extremely du
in the direct face of overwhelmin
evidence also. at such time.
Bettison studied the paper CAREFUL
for traces OF familiarity in the han
: writing to that of his friends-thoE
, he numbered as such, rather. Thel
was something subtly familiar abol
/. the shape of the p's and his, but
! close comparison failed to disclol
! any even distant likeness to the wri
!. ing contained in letters he had r
ceived from time to time from h
4 friends and acquaintances.
No one-not one of them, his vi
v Tins. could have been the author. F
e felt almost sure of that much. In Il
! first place, they had really never su
a pected-indeed, what should ms
a suspect upon recovering from a sps
n Of alcoholism, except that he hi
a played the fool, spent or gambll
n away his money. and been charitab
8 spirited OF by thoroughly good f
v low who was bent only, on protectii
his reputation, as any gentleml
would? Furthermore. exen supposil
they could talk. would they? Hard
s. In All probability some one "
e playing a practical ioke on him
Ie maybe one Of the men did vaguel
T. just vaguely, suspect aim and "
e stretching this neat little trap to cat
Ie him. That settled one aspect Of t
rs case. Under no circumstances mt
d he cease suddenly to practice tine
It somewhat furacious little courtesl'
Is Such had been his intention a VII
back, but the letters put all thought
IS that out OF the question for the pr
q ent His marriage must be postpon
n anything but that he should fall In
q the trap, If trap it really was.
could not be too cautious.
n So the days came and went. VI
every now and then renewed app,
n from the unknown friend" The /
: ters finally grew omlnous. aims
9 threatening and Bettlson grew ne
GUS, pale and restless Where was
alternativeg II he kept the thing