Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-10-16

Every wei, you shall have your prowl;
only it will not be solitary any longer.
for | am not tired in the least, and mean
TO come, too"
VERY well, them he said, leading the
way toward a quiet, shady road, Il am
just in the right mood for talk. and
You are the right sort of company"
Il am so glad | satisfy you, Roger" she
SAID looking at him ahectionately, i
wish all brothers were like you, and cared
as much for their sisters"
80 they would, if all sisters were your
SORT" was his fattering answer; only
Roger meant what he said. allie, of
course I know you will go back to Aunt
Diana one day, but you must promise
me not to leave us just yet"
"Oh, Roger, of course not. How could
[ go while you wanted me?"
MY dear, in that case you would never
leave us at all. No, no, l am not quite
so selfish as that. One day you shall go,
Allie, but not just yet not till things
are more settled, and we are all happier.
Do you know, dear, l wonder sometimes
how | held on those two years without
you; your absence made me miss mother
more" And Rogers lip trembled a little.
Alison pressed his arm without speaking
there was no need for other words be-
tween them, they were so sure of each
others sympathy.
Roger wish you would tell me what
has been troubling you for the last few
days." she said. Something has
| gone very wrong; you have been
| terribly grave all the week, and
yesterday you were too worried to eat
properly. l hope you mean to take me
| into your confidence, dear; perhaps l
| could find some way of helping you"
II wish you could, Allie" he returned,
sadly; Il wish 1 could see a way out Of
| our terrible difficulties. Promise me you
will be as secret as a statue, and will
| tell you little of what has happened"
"Oh, you may trust me-" she replied,
lifting her honest brown eyes to his face.
Il believe l may, and it will be re-
| lief to speak. Allie, Ferguson is going too
| far; l am convinced in my own mind that
| he has tempered with the accounts we
| shall come to crash directly"
What do you mean?" turning little
pale. Roger spoke so vehemently.
ut would take too long to tell you all,
but something very unpleasant has hap
| pened this week. You know my father
| went to Lancaster the other day. Well, a
| check in payment for a consignment of
timber was Unexpectedly paid in during
his absence OF course I Endorsed the
check, wrote out a receipt, inclosed it in
an envelope and put it in the usual rack
| for postage. l then made an entry in the
| ledger, and was just going to lock up the
| ledger and the check in the safe, as it
was nearly time for closing, when the sud-
| den cessation of the machinery told me
some accident had happened, and Of
course | ran out of the office, and so did
Ferguson, our manager"
ooh, I know! when poor Mitchell was
hurt" returned Alison, with a shudder.
81 remember seeing both you and Mr.. Fer
gusson standing bare headed among the
men in the yard; you were sending limo
thy for DOCTOR"
eyes: | was detained for nearly half an
hour. Ferguson must have gone back to
the ofice-at least missed him after the
| first few minutes When they had taken
| Mitchell off to the hospital I went back to
| lock up things for the night. Ferguson
| was just coming out of the office and
handed me the keys. Everything was
locked up, he said, and the messenger had
fetched the letters. 1 had put the check
into my fathers private drawer and had
locked the drawer, but the ledger had been
left open on the table, with my entry writ
ten on the top of blank page. 1 had
noticed the page was little loose, as
though the corresponding one had been
cut out some time previously, but l was
in a hurry, and thought it did not mat
ter. When Ferguson told me everything
was locked up for the night and handed
me the Office keys, of course there was
nothing for me but to take them. Allie,
what do you suppose were my feelings
when we opened the private drawer the
next morning and there was no check
there? Neither was my entry in the led
ger; the loose page was gone, and, to add
to my perplexity, the firm who had paid
in the check wrote to complain that there
had been no acknowledgment or receipt !;
and vet l had written both myself and
placed the stamped envelope among the
other letters for postage"
ITO be continued.)