Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 97, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1912 — Suspicious Characters [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Suspicious Characters

By DONALD ALLEN

(Copyright, ipir, by Associated Literary Press.) Mr. Guy Ascott came up to the village Inn at Westport because he had been told that the fishing was great in September, and that all the summer guests would have departed. Mr. Westcott was a bachelor and he didn’t like a crowd ohpeople. He bad a fair Income and lived in a comfortable way, and mostly for himself. Whatever else he fished for, he didn’t angle for women. ;« Miss Helen Asher, who was old enough to be called an old maid, but didn’t care, and who couldn’t get away from her studio in the city until after August, had come up to the inn to rest and he alone, and perhaps make a few sketches in the neighborhood before returning. If she had ever loved she couldn’t recall the incident She had a very chilly way with men. , The landlord of the tavern boasted that he took no responsibilities. If his guests did not see fit' to deposit their valuables in the old sheet-iron safe in the office he could not even sympathize with the loss by theft He never introduced one guest to another. Thus, if a robber made the acquaintance of a minister, or a gambler that of a Sunday school superintendent, and things happened, mine host could rub his hands and say: "All their own fault! I did not introduce them.” It thus came about that although they were the only two guests in the house, Mr. Ascott and Miss Asher were not introduced. They had to take each other on their looks, and neither was satisfied. “He’s a selfish, repellent man,” was Miss Asher’s verdict as she sat opposite Mr. Ascott at their first meal. “And he’ no gentleman. Had he recognized my presence I should have recognized his. I hope hejvlll leave to-morrow.” And Mr. Ascott, after looking his vis-a-vis over from the tail of his eye, growled to himself: “An old maid, for sure. Probably spent the summer somewhere else trying to catch 0 a man, but failed, and is now making a. last effort She needn’t hope for a victim here.” After several meals had been eaten in silence the hotel help reported the

frozen stiffness of the two guests, but the landlord had no remedy. “Fblks as want to get acquainted can find the way. Folks as don’t are probably just as well off.” It was only natural that the two guests should wonder a bit about each other, and perhaps it was only natural that they should think the worst To Miss Asher the old bachelor might be, and probably was, a fugitive from justice, hiding in that out-of-the-way place. As she was sorry that she had not read the daily, papers more closely. Some issue might have contained bls crime and personal description. She almost shuddered as she cast furtive glances at him. On his side, Mr. Ascot stuck to his first opinion. Miss Asher was not guilty of any greater crime than that of being an old maid in search of matrimony. That, however, when he was the target, was a greater crime than shoplifting. One day, when a week had gone past, Mr. Ascott had a startling tale to tell the landlord. He had come in from his daily fishing to find that he had been robbed of a roll of fifty dollars. He had carelessly left the money on the bureau in his room. “Sorry—vei-y sorry,” was the landlord’s reply, “but you can’t hold me responsible. There’s a notice on your door.” “But is your help honest?” “Straight as a string.” , , “Then—then—” “I don’t, know nothing about her. You remember I have never introduced you. I never do. I feed and lodge and take no responsibility.” And It was hardly an hour later when Miss Asher, who had been out for a walk, was saying to the nonresponsible: “I am sure I left my diamond ring on the washstand when I went out, and now it’s gone!” “Sorry—very sorry, ma’am, but you Should have left it in the office. Mj wife ’tends to your room,, and I hope you don’t think she took it”

“Of course I don’t, but some on* did." f “Just so—just so.” “And I’ve got my suspicions!" “Dear me! Well, I won’t ask what man you suspect I do ask those things. I simply feed and lodge.” "And I may have his room searched even have him arrested!” continued Miss Asher as she turned away. "Who is that man, anyway!” “Can’t say, ma’am. Unless my guests tell me who they are and all about themselve I don’t know a thing.” "He may be a criminal.” “Yes, he may. No telling what anybody Is these days—not by their looks.” In deference to what she knew must be an embarrassing situation, the landlord’s wife, at the next meal, seated the guests with their backs to each other, and bribed a boy to stand outside one of windows and keep up a constant whistling to relieve the awful strain, but the stratagems were only partly successful. Mr. Ascott had his suspicions and they would not down. If the hotel people were honest then—then —! He was out. His door was not locked. The roll of greenbacks was a temptation. He could not hope to recover his cash, but—

And with her back to him and sitting as stiff as a poker. Miss Asher felt that the old bachelor had a guilty look on his face, and that if given the “third degree” by the sheriff he would break down and restore his plunder. She wondered if she towered over him and appealed and Threatened and spoke of his mother, who was probably a saint in heaven, if she could not touch his heart. She finally decided that she could not. At his age he would be hardened in crime and fiot care a copper whether his mother was in heaven or some other place. That night was moonlit. There was a veranda running along the second story of the Inn, and at about the hour of 9 the landlord’s wife beckoned him from the office and up the first flight and whispered: “They are together out on the veranda!” "No!" ■ "" “And sitting near each other!” “No!” “And talking poetry and things!" “I can’t believe It, and I can’t be held responsible!" "She found ■ her ring In the washstand drawer and he found his money In the hind pocket of his other trousers. They rushed out of their rooms and almost embraced. He begged her pardon and she begged his. He said he had not suspected a lady like her, and she said she had taken him for a gentleman at the first glance.” "And—and what?” "Why, the romance of the thing, you old goose! ” . “They’ll fall in love?” "Of course.” “Well, let ’em. I don’t know but that’s the best way, but you listen to me, Martha,, and remember what I say—l will not be responsible for It!"

"Sorry, Very Sorry, Ma'am!”