The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-01-02

every wei, you shall have your prow1;
only 1t will not be solitary any longer,
for l am not tired in the least, and mean
to come, too"
Every well, them" he said, leading the
way toward a quiet, shady road, Il am
just in the right mood for a talk, and
you are the right sort of company.
II am 50 glad satisfy you, Roger" she
said, looking at him affectionately, Il
wish all brothers were like you, and cared
as much for their sisters"
$50 they would, if all sisters were your
Sort" was his fattering answer; only
Roger meant what he said. "Allie, OF
course know you will go back to Aunt
Diana one day, but you must promise
me not to leave us just yet"
ooh, Roger, of course not. How could
I 60 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 60,
Allie, but not just yet, not till things
are more settled, and we are all happier.
Do you know, dear, wonder sometimes
how 1 held on those two years without
you; your absence made me miss mother
MORE" And Rogers lip trembled 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. 1 hope you mean to take me
into your confidence, dear; perhaps I
could find some way of helping YOU"
II wish you could, Allie" he returned,
sadly; 81 wish l could see a way out OF
our terrible difficulties. Promise me you
will be as secret as statue, and l will
tell you little of what has happened"
ooh, you may trust me-" she replied,
lifting her honest brown eyes to his face.
II believe l may, and it will be re-
lief to speak, Allie, Ferguson is going too
far; 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
"It 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 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 1 ran out of the Office, and so did
Ferguson, our manager"
"Oh, know! when poor Mitchell was
hurt" returned Alison, with a shudder.
Il remember seeing both you and Mr.. Fer
gusson standing bare headed among the
men in the yard; you were sending limo
thy for a DOCTOR"
Eyes; was detained for nearly half an
hour. Ferguson must have gone back to
the ofice-at least l missed him after the
first few minutes. When they had taken
Mitchell off to the hospital 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. l 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. l had
noticed the page was little loose, as
though the corresponding one had been
cut out some time previously, but l was
in hurry, and 1 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 yet l had written both myself and
placed the stamped envelope among the
other letters for postage"
Ito be continued.)