The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-06-26
A Vindication
By LOUISE B. CUMMINGS

By LOUISE B. CUMMINGS
When l arrived at my aunt's country
place to make her q visit l found the
family much put out about something
which had occurred. Ralph Townsend,
who had been paying attention to my
Cousin Bess, had gone away under q
cloud, and my aunt said that 1t was
fortunate he had been found out before
it was too late. Bess was in a perpet-
ual state Of tears, and the prospects
for my having a pleasant visit were
very poor.
In time l learned what the trouble
was. A gold watch belonging to my
Cousin John and other articles belong
ing to various members Of the family
were missing. One of them-a brooch
had been found in the pocket Of
Ralph's dress coat hanging in the clos
ct Of his bedroom. When informed of
the fact, without making any defense
he put his belongings into his suit case
and left the house.
l possess one faculty which is more
common to my sex than to men, I
think. l Judge persons ~instinctively.
Besides. we women can see through
one another far better than men can
see through US. There was q girl in
the house, a general friend Of the fam
lily. Edna Petit, whom l did not like.
I could give no reason for my dislike,
but it was just as strong as If I could
give a thousand. On the other hand,
l had met Ralph Townsend once, and,
although l had not exchanged a word
with him. I had been very favorably
impressed with him.
Perhaps this antipathy and this lik-
ing would not be considered evidence
in a court of law. but it was good
enough for me. l argued that some
thing had been going on between Edna
and Ralph: that Ralph had incurred
her hatred. and she had taken revenge
upon him by p%urloining certain articles
and putting one of them in his pocket.
He was too much Of a man to attack
a woman. He couldn't prove anything
against her anyway. and there was
nothing to do but to 60 away without
making a defense. l believed that he
knew whence came the stigma that
had been fastened upon him.
| fiatter myself that for reasoning
based entirely on feeling the above is
pretty good. l don't know any man
who could do better. Having fixed
upon the guilty one-in my own mind
l laid my plans to expose her. But,
though feeling might have led me In
the right direction, it is not reliable in
a demonstration. Nevertheless l put
myself in Edna's place and thought
what l would do If l had played the
game I believed she had played. l felt
sure that l would not hide any Of the
stolen articles In my own room. !
thought it improbable that they would
be found in the room of any n else.
since If they were stolen to ruin Ralph
there would probably be 10 reason to
ruin any other person.
My aunt's house was a large one with
a good many bedrooms. During my Wis
it three rooms remained unOccupied.
Two were on the floor where women
guests were lodged and one where men
slept. 1t occurred to me that the miss
ing articles. if in the house. would be
hidden in n Of these vacant rooms
On the night of my arrival began to
make investigations. After midnight l
stole into one of the unoccupied wom-
ans rooms with an electric lamp and
made a thorough search. looking espe-
cially between the mattresses Of the
ted. I found nothing.
The next night / visited the other
vacant oom in the women's quarters
with the same result. There was a
sofa near a window. and, the night be-
ing hot, l lay down on the lounge to
think. had scarcely done SO when l
heard q ticking.
Rising, ! examined the lounge. but
could nOt see how a watch could have
got inside Of 1t. lay down again. and
presently it occurred to me that the
lounge was constructed to open and
shut. Getting up again, I felt of it till
! found that I could lift the part on
which l had been lying. Inside by the
light Of my lamp l found the watch
l had heard. I recognized it as my
aunt's. In a small box I found other
missing articles.
Now that I had found the stolen
property it remained for me to find the
thief. l concentrated my attention
| upon Edna Petit. l had no idea what
she would do In the matter. whether
she would suffer the articles to remain
where they were or take them away.
Every night I went from my room to
the one where I had found the stolen
goods and ~slept-when l did sleep
very comfortably on some blankets un-
der the bed. first satisfying myself that
the articles were still under the lounge.
The night before Edna was to take
her departure while sleeping under the
bed | was awakened by some
coming into the room. didn't know
who it was, but, stealing from my hid
inc nl0co I 10oko6 tho door Thop