The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1912-07-04

III his IaulL, not mine. SalQ L. Il
didn't recommend myself"
Henderson glanced at the door and
then at the window Then he drew an
| envelope from his pocket and took a
ten dollar bill out of it.
"Franklin deposited that here today"
said he. Its one of them
shuddered at the sight of it.
Have you told him." asked.
Upon my word" said he, Il haven't
had the nerve. This thing is too awful
! Ed Franklin is such an outspoken. I'M
terrified fellow that he'd never realize
what mere suspicion might do to him.
I'm putting this up to you, my young
friend"
1--WE got nothing except my luck"
said |. but I'm going to back it once
more. Let's send for Franklin"
Henderson arose without a word and
left the room. | remained alone for
about fifteen minutes. when he return
ed with Franklin. | saw at g glance
| that the banker had not told the facts,
He left it to me, and | stated the case.
Franklin was far more affected than
I had supposed that he would be, but |
| refused to believe this to be an evi-
dence of weakness in him. 1t was an
evidence Of the difficulty of the situa,
| ton. The man was thunderstruck.
He got good deal more light from
| the fash than we did. seeing many
| things which to us were invisible, and
/ wondered that he could bear himself
| so naturally as to deceive so clever
| man as Henderson. Still it is true that
mere natural shrewdness is crude and
uncertain in comparison with definite
| method Of observation based on scien-
tif1c principles.
| Franklin lied when he said that he
did not know how he came by the
| 1t, but l could not be quite sure that
| he was lying for his own sake and not
for anothers. Even if guilty man
| of his type would defend himself more
| for his daughters sake than his own.
| His crime would have been foreign
to him, an exceptional act, but his
| character would still live in him,
though MANNED, under wreckage of
conduct
| We walked back to the hotel to-
gether, but said little by the way.
though he once expressed surprise
that the smaller bills of the stolen
money could be identified.
! ''Some people would call it judg-
ment," he said Some moments later
heard him mutter, Poor Laura" That
was my first hearing of his daughters
| name
In her usual health Miss Franklin
might have been busy about the house,
but she was now taking an enforced
| vacation, and l had an hours CONVEX
sation with her before supper Al
though strove to keep her from dis
closures, she would still talk about her
/ father. There was a reason why her
mind ran upon him and why she felt
impelled to praise him. but | did not
then know this 1t seemed to me that
a perverse imp of Satan was guiding
the poor girls talk.
| She told me of her fathers constant
/ Il
of his toll, and how he had sacrificed
himself in order that she might have
the advantages of education. | saw,
| In short, the familiar story of father
ambitious for his daughter in a world
where the powerful preserve and aug
ment their riches by creating scarcity
instead of an abundance and by strew-
/ ing the common way of life with sor-
did difficulties.
/ she was telling me story which
/ disclosed the fact that her father had
/ once been q machinist and very skillful
-whereat / seemed to see the open
safe and the dead man beside it
when our talk was interrupted by the
arrival of a guest. He came in a
wagon from the depot, and while the
driver carried the mans baggage into
| the hotel he himself FASTENED to Miss
| Franklin. He darted one look at me,
SO bitterly jealous that it would have
/ been grimly amusing if circumstances
| had permitted me to consider that
phase of the subject
/ In fact. however. my mind was
whirling with another thought. and
/ when | returned that glance of black
/ III will had but one desire, which
was to control my own countenance so
that 1t would not betray me, for
/ knew the man, and not for half the
| world would / have shown him u
CLEAN of recognition in my eyes.
My memory of faces is perhaps the
sole gift which tends to justify Major
/ Henderson's faith in me- 1t is an ex-
cellent ally of my good luck Seven
/ years Lad passed since had seen this
man, and | bestowed no special atteu
| ton upon him. He had merely been
one of many prisoners in Charlestown
penitentiary when visited 1t on my
/ FIRST criminal investigation His of
/ Tense was burglary.
Perhaps it is unfair to say that ] had
not remarked him above the other pris
| Oners He was man of handsome
presence. IL one likes the type; a 1.-THE.