Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-27

2pted Fem, but that's all!
yged his shoulders.
1he said "the innocent don't make
ffces in these days. The mystery of
Hry is cleared up"
Dhdered that declaration when he was alone
D5fhce again.
"a cleared up?" he asked himself doubtfully
We been dreaming things am awake? I'm
fmost convinced" He locked the door of his office
Vand then unlocked drawer of his desk. "Is t?" he
asked again "Her confession in the presence of wit
nesses would send her to the penitentary the case
is conclusive; jury wouldn't take five minutes over
II. Did she steal those things or are they here?'
He took the missing articles from the drawer and
laid them on the desk They're here" he went on
She confesses to stealing articles that have not been
out of my possession, and she makes strong case
OF it, too almost believed her myself He put the
things away and locked the drawer again. after
which he leaned back and scowed at the ceiling for
several minutes. Il suppose" he commented at last,
Il suppose the situation is comic but don't seem
to be able to laugh. Desson goes scotfree, and I'm
busy trying to dodge the necessity of arrestng the
girl did it for. Oh it must be very funny"
For two days Miss Walters waited in momentary
expectation of arrest or at least discharge, but
bearable she sought an interview with Fem in his
private office.
Am to be arrested Mr. Fenn?" she asked.
Not now" he answered. evasivey.
"Discharged?"
mot now
"Then l shall resign" she announced
II don't think l can permit that, Miss Walters
he returned.
"But-but something must happen!" she cried
Not necessarily he answered "Of course, if you
tried to leave, | might feel obliged to act.
Slowly this new situation dawned upon her; she
had put herself quite at his and he was taking
advantage of it in an unexpected way: it might yet
happen that she would have to choose between him
and Jail This was another contingency that she had
not contemplated 1t had not been difficult to face
arrest when she made her confession, but to live with
the threat of it hanging over her quite another
matter
uncomfortable sienoe
"Because-because it was so easy, and I wanted
the money" she answered.
His question had referred to the confession. and
not to the theft but he followed this lead
You still insist that you actually took the things?"
he inquired and there was almost plea for denial
in his tone
"Of course" she replied.
His glance strayed involuntariy to the locked
drawer in which the articles rested and his face
laxed into grim, mrthless smile.
We'll" he said significantly, 81 don't feel that I
spare you just now and the future will depend
upon-yourself. There is real reason why any
thing should be heard of this unfortunate af-
fair"
She went back to her work more troubled than be-
fore, for she knew that she had lost her indie
pendence. How could she discourage the attentions
of who could send her to Jail, to whose
generosity she owed her liberty, employer from
whose service she could not resign? And the pros
pect of jail is not pleasing to even the martyr.
Fem asked her to go to lunch with him, and she
went. He limited that he would appreciate an nvi-
CaJ1On TO call, ana Sno eXtenCeu IT, he was Wise,
he prudent; he wanted her to be grateful for
his forbearance but he did not lose sight of his adj
vantage And neither did she, for she knew to what
all this tended and it was not pleasant to be wooed
by a she could not safely refuse
Consideration of all the circumstances made hims
almost as contented now he had been with the
original loss. The developments had been along
expected lines but the situation fully as salts
factory the one he had sought to create.
This the way it looked to him before Miss
Walters to his private Office, unsummoned the
second time after that he had the same old difficulty
in appreciating the comedy features that he knew
existed