The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1913-05-20

30 to the telephone and ask yorr IA.
ther the nnne Of the messenger hs
sent He wouldn't have sent Tom.
Dict or Harry on such an important
errand. Young man, sit down here us-
I'll Ne nnd out the truth Of this mat
ter
The glri weat 70 the telephone. and
the yeuss mas sat down w1th yisions
e pollcomen aal prison bars passing
bsfofs bic eyes. THE aunt took o seat
6irsctly 10 front Of him and stared at
him in . cold, cruel way-a way that
gavs him to understand that she would
let 20 guilty man escape. After three
or -four minutes Winnie returned to the
room to say:
That's always the way. Central
tells me that the line into the city Is
crossed or something and II mas be An
hour or more before they fud out the
trouble and remedy IT,"
Then will 20 back and tell your ia
tber the situation" s1j Mr.. Gray.
some sharper has the bonds. and the
police should be notified at once"
'.You will sit right here until that
telephons wire II in working order"
announced Aunt Ruth. There are
men about the place. and we have dogs
and guns. and II you try to run away
Il win b The worse for you. Winnie.
notify the coachman that we have
suspicious character In the house"
"She needn't DO anything Of the sort.
win sit hsee until you have solved the
mystery. I an 10 tlams for losing the
letter, but if IL bonds are not recov-
cred Il wtll not b ny fault"
"He deesn't look like Suspicious
person" whispseed Winnie to her aunt.
but IN tones loud enough 20 that he
caught The words and turned red
again.
He may not to you. who can't tell a
robber from q church deacon. But he
does to me. and here be shall stay until
We know all about It. You sit down In
the hail and wait for the telephone.
and I'll keep him under my eyes"
Aunt Ruth leaned back In her chair.
folded her arms. compressed her lips
and fastened her eyes on Mr.. Gray,
and had he been a bunko man Of ten
years standing he must have been dis
concerted As It was. he coughed and
bIushed and hitched around and cross
ed and recrossed his legs. When the
aunt broke the silence It was to impart
no cheerful information. What she
said was: . tty.
"It makes you sQuirm to realize that
you've reached the end Of your rope at
last, but you'll sQulrm moro still when
the Judge pronounces sentence. While
I pity your poor mother. I hope you'll
| get at least zen years."
Mr. Gray made no reply. He couldn't
6nd words. About every ten minutes
for ths nsxt hour hs received a brief
| vigorous lecture until he was almost
worked up To the point where b
thought Of jumping through window
and tahing bis chances. when q man'i
step was heard. There was an "Oh
papar' from MiAs Winnie In the hall
and Colonel Graves stalked in to u
claim: ~.
"what in the devil q the matte
here"
There he Sits replied Aunt Rutl
as she pointed to the culprit
II took ubout ten minutes to unrave
thIngs-that Is. to establish Vlncen
Gray's identity. Fortunately by thi
time the telephone was working. ant
fortunately Mr.. Jones was in his office
1t took Eve minutes more to discove
that Winnie had given the false mes
senger Honduras instead Of Mexical
bonds and that the colonel was simply
relieved of some waste paper.
When 1t came to apologies and invii
ing Mr.. Gray to forgive and forget ant
stay to dinner. perhaps full quartz
of an hour was consumed. but 1t Is no
on record that Mr.. Gray regarded tn
time as thrown away.
Now when the colonel smiles an
throws out hints at his prospectiv
son-in.law Miss Winnie bushes an
protests. Aunt Ruth assumes one Q
her sweetest looks and says:
~ don't say shall leave when b
becomes one of the family. but d
say that I shall always lock mp m
jewelry when I 60 to bed and lock an
bolt the door,