Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-06-12
HIS HIDING
PLACE
By HENRY sMrrHsoN

,ou worker | looked him over and
,ras seized with one of those uncoh-
,rollable repulsions that we cannot ac-
sount for. II there was any reason
,or this dislike conceived for him It
was IN bis eye. which was gray.
.nook hands with him, but there was
M beartiness Ia my grasp nor In his
n was evident that we were not t.
be bosom friends
whitman did fairly well as clerk.
ond we got on well enough together
despite my repulsion for him at our
srst meeting. was man Of all work.
salesman, bookkeeper and cashier.
whitman was employed to sell goods.
carry parcels and do odd Jobs. He
dressed well. seeming to take great
interest In his clothes, especially his
crayats. The only extravaganza about
him was smoking. He smoked at
least one box day and often more.
For clerk on $40 week with no
other source OF income this required
too much outlay.
Whitman In years time learned
rood deal about the business, includ-
Inc bookkeeping. which he asked me
to teach him. Then dull times came
on. and Mr.. Perkins found retrench-
ment necessary 1t was known both
to whitman and to me that one Of
"a would have to go. Mr.. Perkins
was debating the matter. He didn't
know whether to keep mesat SIS a
week or whitman at SIS. to which
spm he had been raised. He didn't
say so. but / knew that was the ques-
ton. An ominous sign was his put
ting the books and cash into Whit
mans hands. inferred that he wish
ed to try him to discover whether he
could do the work satisfactorily.
One day Mr.. Perkins went out of the
store. leaving ten dollar bill on the
desk where he had been writing. Pass
ing the desk. I saw 1t and would have
picked IT up to take care Of II, but the
telephone bell was ringing. and ] went
90 to answer 1t. After had taken
down an order I forgot the bill for a
short time, and when remembered 1t
| was too late. Mr. Perkins came in
and told me and Whitman that he had
left $40 on the desk. and 1t was miss
ing on his return Whitman spoke
first. denying having seen It. then !
told him that | had seen 1t and gave
the reason why l bad not taken care
Of It
Whitman declared that no one had
been near the desk except me and that
only one customer had come in during
Mr.. Perkins absence and that was
woman who had not gone near the
back part of the store where the mon
ey had been left
That eye Of Whitman through which
anything evil that was In him looked
out convinced me that he would at
tempt to fix the loss Of the bill on to
me with a view to being retained In
the store in my place saw 1t so
plainly that I wondered Mr.. Perkins
didn't see 1t, That Perkins did not was
evident from the fact that. while he
seemed sure that one of US had taken
the bill. be was In doubt which was
the thief. for be Immediately took
charge OF the books and the cash him
self
He was now more at 4 loss to know
which Of us he would discharge than
before, since he didn't wish to keep the
dishonest one was quite sure of
Whitman's game. but saw no way of
proving 1t And yet felt It essential
That should do so. got my mind
down on the problem ready to follow
any slight clue. that might present It.
self.
4 hunted up places where he was
akely to have bought things. especial
Y cigarettes, but could not learn that
ne had paid for anything with ten
dollar bill.
one day Mr.. Perkins told me to go
tne next day to collect large account
uhce he needed the money to help pay
note that would come due before the
eose Of banking hours the same day
i'elephoned him from my house thai
mad been taken suddenly III and would
Nut De able to go. learned the next
morning that he had sent whitman ]
went over to the house where Whit
@an bearded and said we needed a
certain paper at the store that he had
u Ills possession and got permission to
20 INTO bis room to look for It ran
sacked every, nook and corner hoping
70 nhd some ciew to the lost bill when
.aa bureau drawer found cigarette
'ok with two or three cigarettes In IT.
! doubted If Whitman had spent the
.Ost ten dollar bill and hoped to End IT
= tne most likely place for him to put
u seeing these cigarettes In place
"nere be would not usually keep his
.ooaeco. 1t flashed into my head that
Ae most likely place to occur to
Iah 10 hide anything would be In
sas with which he was most familiar.
.aAing up the little rolls ! could see
suiy tobacco at the end. But one was
piiable than the others. tore on
e paper and found ten dollar bill.
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