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Show HONESTY AND MEMORY. ! i , . .... i IT LOOKED AS THOUGH THE MAN ! WAS GUILTY OF A CRIME. j A ( a . e Will, It Kliowa That C'lriHlliUntlal lOvltlenr J Knt Always ('mieltulvs) I'llof o( Cullt A IV urn mi Makes I p la I'orbfiiimire Her Loss of Memory. Two weeks ago a family of two persons per-sons husband ami wife rented a small apartment up town und proceeded to furnish it. Tim carpets were supplied und laid by a reputable house. Homo-thing Homo-thing ulxiut ono of tliem wan nnsutiMfno ! tory, and a hum was sent to investigate, j The wife Mm. L. was on her way out of the building to post a letter when she encountered biin. Iteoognining biui, she said: "lb-re is tho key; I will bo back in fivo minutes. Go up and sea what can bo done." Ko sooner had she pot on tho street . when sho thought suddenly of a roll of ; bills, nearly $100, which slio h;td carelessly care-lessly left in a glovo box on her dressing ; ! table. Thero wan nobody iu tho apart- stent, as no servunt nau yet, ueen engaged, en-gaged, and kIio whs tempted to return at once to look after tho money. "But surely," she thought, "that man ia honest; hon-est; 1 need have no four," and fiho hurried hur-ried on. In less than ten minutes she was back, and met tho carpet iiiiin just outside her door. IIo stopped and ppoke with her concerning tho troublesome carpet, and promi&od a speedy remedy. They depurated depu-rated ami sho entered her apartment. Almost mechanically nho went to bar dit .-sing table and raitjed tho lid of tho glove bo.s. Tim money was not there. nAMMflNO KVinKNOK. Wllhout delaying an instant sho hurried hur-ried into tho ball and down tho stairs, overtaking tho carpet man as he bad reached tho street. "Will you eomo back a moment, please?" sho Haiti. IIo did so at once. When they were again in the apartment tdio faced Jiim. "A curious thing him happened. When I went out this morning I left a roll of bills ,:0 in that box over there. It is gone now." Tho nifin did not seem to understand for a moment. "Well," ho said unmeaningly, unmean-ingly, j "Well," repeated Mrs. L., "thero wa nobody in tho apartment but" The niau interrupted her. "God, madam," ho said earnestly as tho significance signifi-cance of her words dawned upon him, "you don't think I took your uioneyV" "1 don't know wlmt to think, replied Mrs. L.j "the money was there and now it isn't." "But I'm an honest man," ho went on. "I've got n little girl. Do you think I'd steal? Why, I've been eight years with So-and-so. They know my character. Look around for your money. Perhaps your husband took it." "That is possible," said Mrs. L. "Will ! you come with mo to his office and find out?" Ho acquiesced and the journey down town was made. Mr. L. had not taken the money. Tho man was greatly disturbed. dis-turbed. "You can search me," he said. "There's my own money," producing a small wad, "left from my last wm's wages. I haven't another cent abllt; me." And he turned ins pockets insil out. Mr, L. was impressed with the man's appearance and earnestness. Mrs. L. was puzzled and her money was gone. A CASE OP POOH MEMORY. However, nothing further was done at tho time, and the man went back to his work asking only that ho and not they report tho occurrence at tho carpet dealer's deal-er's shop. Mrs, L. went home and ransacked ran-sacked drawers and boxes, moved furniture, fur-niture, and opened trunks in a vain Bearch for the money. Several days passed, when, on going to an Ttppit shelf in a wardrobe, Mrs. L.'s attention was at traded to a towel pinned in a roll, j What was that? she wondered. She took it down and opened it. Inside was a discarded wallet, and iu the wallet the missing bills. And they had been put there by Mrs. L. herself. Sho recalled, on seeing them, that the night before the man came she had thought, jnat before going to bed, that it was careless, with so many persons per-sons coming and going iu the course of the settling process, to leave money loose in a box on the table, and she had elaborately elabo-rately thought out this hiding place. Then she had slept, and by morning had : lost ail recollection of what she had done. It was lata Saturday afternoon when she found the money, and storming, but it must be related to Mrs. L.'s credit that she did what she could. She sent a dispatch to tho man iu care of his firm stating that the money was found. Ou Monday she went to tho shop and explained ex-plained the matter to tho superintendent, asking that the man be asked to come to seo her. He did so and received an apology for tho imputation on his honesty. Then Mrs. L. tried to reimburse him for his "loss of time;" this he would not permit. The money was found that wao all he wanted. So it all ended happily. hap-pily. But the story may bo taken as forcibly illustrating the uncertain value of two things a woman's memory and circumstantial evidence. Her Point of View in Now York Times. |