Accused

Discovery

(This part is dedicated to my great friend and follower HGF- also known as Hani656.  She is a gifted writer and a swell person; you should follow her.)

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Filbert Johnson was head over heels in love.
Thoughts of the girl filled his mind every waking moment. Unless it was filled with horse racing, that is.

Elsie Winters: the most beautiful girl he had ever met. And the nicest... and the sweetest... and the wonderfullest (was wonderfullest a word? He didn't care; she was) and she was the cleverest; much cleverer than he. But that didn't matter; they were well-matched according to both his father and hers. Filbert was rich, and Elsie's father had a position. Filbert was handsome, and Elsie was beautiful. Perfect in the extreme.

Even still, there is no doubt that Elsie, although she felt sorry for Filbert, did not like him in the way he liked her.

If Elsie's mother had still been living, she would not have urged her to marry the ridiculous young man. As it was, however, her father already struggled enough to know how to raise a girl. He thought a union between the two a good idea. He did everything he could to find a husband in Filbert for his daughter, short of forcing them together.

When the young man arrived at the house of his love, he looked around for her. Seeing no one but Judge Winters, to whom he gave a hasty bow, his face fell comically.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson went immediately over to the judge and started in on the usual greetings.

Winters noticed Filbert glancing around, and smiled at him.

"Looking for my daughter?"

"Y-yes sir, I would like to see her. She— she will be here, won't she?" The worried look on his round face, coupled with his blue eyes and blonde hair, made him look like a cherub.

"Oh yes, she went out. She must have been held up."

They went into the drawing-room to wait for dinner. Filbert had just slumped down on the edge of an armchair when Elsie came into the room, her dress wrinkled from donning it hurriedly.

"I'm terribly sorry Papa! I forgot all about tonight!"

Her father endeavored to look stern, but his face softened at the contrite countenance which Elsie turned towards him.  "Oh that's alright darling, you haven't missed anything."

He may have said more, but Filbert's parents, after greeting their hostess, engaged the judge in conversation. This left the young man to talk with Elsie. She changed her expression from the long-suffering look, which had appeared on her face at the sight of Filbert, and forced a smile.

He pumped her hand vigorously.  "Hello, Elsie! I was wondering when you would get here!"
She gave her friend a constrained grin as he took her arm and led her to a chair in a clumsy manner.

"It's good to see you Filbert."

"Really Elsie? You don't know how glad it makes me to hear you say so!"

"Oh, I think I do," she thought to herself.
She said nothing out loud, however, so they sat in awkward silence for several minutes. Then, Filbert began to discuss the horse races; a favorite topic with him. Elsie liked horses, but incessant talk about jockeys and betting and odds ceased to be interesting after two minutes.

She was saved from the land of tedium by Brendon, who announced dinner. Almost as soon as they had sat down at the table and had finished saying the grace, Mr. Johnson brought up a topic which all of the guests were dying to know about. Elsie felt her heart skip a beat as he said, "so, Winters, what about this escaped murderer we've been reading so much about in the papers?"