The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-01-16
A
FUGITIVE
BY EDWARD sTAcER

The street against which my bous
backed was largely occupied for shops
The building whose rear confront
ed the rear of my house was occu
pied below for millinery goods. while
girls worked above on the goods SOLD
in the store. The third story seemed
to be used for sleeping rooms for tn,
girls who worked on the premises dur
ing the day.
One afternoon when / came home
and stood looking through my bedroom
window / saw In an upper window OF
the house back of me young girl who
differed entirely from those had been
used to seeing there. In the first place
she was singularly beautiful, in the
second she was dressed like a lady
and in the third her features seen
through pair of opera glasses were
of a very refined type. She was evil
IDENTIFY in a room by herself on the
third story and was working at trim
ming hats.
Why was that high bred young wo-
man there working In that fashion
She must have been educated. and ed
ucated girls when they occupy posi-
tons don't usually take up manual la
Dor. The bee of curiosity had got into
my head and kept continual buzzing.
j watched the girl till nightfall, when
she shut her window. and the first
thing in the morning | looked for her.
She was there working again the same
as the day before. For several days
] kept feasting my eyes upon her.
when one day, suddenly turning her
face in my direction, she saw me look
ing at her through my glasses. Hay-
ing her face In focus, | saw fright
ened expression come over 1t. She
withdrew from the window, and,
though often looked for her, did not
see her there again. i cursed myself
for fool in not keeping back where
she could not have seen me.
Her disappearance showed me that
If the bee curiosity had effected an en-
trance into my head an arrow of love
had been shot into my heart. / was
astonished ut the loneliness that came
over me. The night after my mothers
funeral, when found myself for the
first time alone in the house. | had
been oppressed by the solitude, but this
sensation was different Then there
was something lost that had no idea
of regaining. Now that which had
been shut off from my vision l felt
must be restored to me-
In the financial center of the city
had heard rumors of trouble on the
part of certain wealthy man who had
been specializing. Being a banker, the
matter had come to my ears long be-
fore its publication, since the bank in
which was employed had made large
loans to the Spectator and was there
fore interested in his getting out OF his
difficulty without a failure. His en-
barrassment was kept as quiet as pos
sible. Nevertheless l learned that IL
he didn't pull through he would be
prosecuted criminally. Meanwhile he
was working night and day to bring
about an adjustment.
One evening while dining with the
cashier he told me that, while there
was criminality in the case of this
man who owed us money. it was not
he who had committed fraud, but a
member Of his family, who had disap-
peared with securities that he was In
terested in keeping out Of the reach Of
the law. But he added that the po-
lice had got on to the fugitiyes hid
ing place and expected to make an ar
rest very soon.
What 1t was that induced me to put |
this information and the girl Of the hat |
factory together / don't know, but ] |
did. My romance would not permit me |
to think that she had run away with /
securities to which she had no right. |
] believed that she was acting with her
relative to extricate him from his com
plications. At any rate, II the hat |
girl was this person the police were |
after proposed to warn her. Leaving /
the cashier after dinner, made
for the building in which j
had seen her.
L was received by the woman who
ran the establishment. / asked to be
permitted to see the lady who occupied
D back room on the third story. The
woman looked at me suspiciously and
said there was no one occupying either
Of the back rooms on that story. This
confirmed my suspicion that the girl
had seen was in hiding.
when did the girl who has been
there at window for several
lays go" | asked, giving the woman
/ searching glance. saw by her ex-
preston that she felt the game was
Up.
. Let me see her." I added in a con-
idential tone. II have news for her in
which she is greatly interested"
Are you friend of hers?"
81 would serve her"
She led the way to salesroom, then
vent upstairs and came down with the |
yirl In question. She was what | sus-
,ected her to be. Her father was in ,
rouble. and she was helping him.
TO give up my house to her ,
nd the woman who was harboring her !
or another hiding place. The offer [
vas accepted. and they went there at s
nee. | going TO my club. They had
ot been gone an hour before the police {
vent to the millinery factory to make |!
be arrest.
nv this bit of finaDciering that was