The Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1870-1875, 1870-12-14
A TERRIBLE NIGHT.

Il
business for the day being over, thu
porter for the bank at Was clos
ing the doors Of that establishment
AS was accountant at the bank,
was busily engaged In verifying the
posting of the ledgers, while the tel
lers were hard at work counting the
cash IN the tills, and the clerks at the
various books and letters. When
had finished an abstract l was making
from some of the ledgers, [ took il
into the managers room. As | en-.
tered, the manager was just buttoning
his coat to depart.
I have done the abstract of profit
and loss on bills for the last month,
said /. placing the paper on his table,
and ind the result more satisfscto-
~ than you expected.
L am very glad of it; the directors
are particularly anxious to improve
this branch of the business. / will
take this abstract with me, and look
It over this evening. said he, putting
1t II his breast pocket. "If there Is
nothing very urgent to do in the Office,
should like you TO come up and
dine with me this evening; in fact,
have some news for you, which you
L h
will be unexpected
As L had no pressing reason for
doing any more work that afternoon,
L accepted the managers invitation /;
the more so as he was a very genial
man and much of my Advancement in
the bank was due to his kindly exer-
tons on my behalf. We both sailed
forth into the main street. IL was
q miserable night; the rain and sleet
came down at q sharp angle, borne on
a piercing wind, and under foot was
balf-frozen mixture of mud and snow,
which struck a cold chill through
ones feet. We soon found a cab,
and few minutes saw US in the porch
Of MIR. Wilmot's house, and once
more In his cosy snuegery. As soon
as We we're seated, Mr.. Wilmot COM
menced to communicate to me the
news of which ne had spoken. It is
unnecessary to detail our converse
ton, the sum of which was. that he
had very good reasons to believe that
l was on the point of being promoted
to a managership. To make this COM
prghensible 20 the reader, it is neees-
say to explain something Of the or
ganizstion of the bank in which I
held the post of accountant. The
particular Office In which | was en-
ployed was a branch bank, forming
part of q great joint.stock bank,
having Its head Office in London, and
branches in various provincial towns.
The manager Of one of our branches
was about to retire on o pension, and
the board had that day communicated
to mr. Wilmot their intention-on
certain conditions-of appointing me
TO the post at their disposal. OF
course, this was joyful news to me,
get it seemed rather to spell my appe-
tite for my dinner than to improve it,
and when We went into the dining
room, Mrs. Wilmot rallied me on nv
seeming rather absent.
"Ohl'' said her husband, Il have
just been telling him some news that
may considerably affect his career in
the bank, and Isuppose he is ruminat-
ing over it."
But I thought Mr.. Dandy was
always in the good graces of the di-
rectors. L hope no change has taken
placer? said Mrs. Wilmot.
None whatever" said Mr.. Wilmot.
Come, Dandy, you ought to look
more cheerful than ever; but l can
well understand that the prospect of
obtaining the goal Of your ambition
is too overpoWeriDg to induce spright-
illness"
II can assure you. said l. that.
the prospect is very gratifying, and /
cannot tell why / should look so
dull, for / feel so joyful that I am, in
fact quite confused, To -morrow I
shall feel all right, nc doubt"
But" said Mrs. Nilmot, sis there
some great secret about Mr.. Danby's
prospects,"
NO, my DEAR said her husband.
you are aware that Mr.. Kinnear,
our manager at s., is going to
retire. Well, the directors have de-
cided to appoint Mr.. Dandy to sue
coed him, on certain conditions, and
as those conditions are, to my knowl-
edge, favorable, We may look upon
the matter as settled"
Mrs. Wilmot expressed her pleasure
at my improved prospects, and then
the comment of the dinner interrupted
our conversation for time. When
we began to converse again, an acct
dental remark of Mrs. Wilmot's led
to the introduction of topic which
had repeatedly been mentioned in my
presence on former occasions, but
which / had never properly fathomed.
It referred to very mysterious affair
connected with the disappearance of
D valuable jewel case belonging to
Mrs. Wilmot. Prompted by curiosity,
/ asked Mr.. Wilmot if he would en-
tighten me as to the whole facts Of
this matter.
well, 1 will tell you all that I
know about it, but that is not much,
as the whole transaction was very
mysterious, and it has never yet been
cleared up. The robbery, for such it
undoubtedly was, took place some
fora about six months before you
came to this branch. 1t happened In
this way: We had q dinner party one
evening, and my wife, when dressing,
took some jewelry out of her case,
which / brought from my private safe
for that purpose. This case she left
on her dressing table. and when We
went out to our bed room, after our
guests had gone, 1t was nowhere to be
found. We had a servant who was to
leave the next day, the cause of her
dismissal being her habit of going out
without permission and keeping late
hours. On inquiry, found that this
girl had been away from the house for
about two hours during the time we
were with our guests. This circum-
stance, coupled with others, excited
my suspicious so far that / sent for
the superintendent of police; but after
long and tedious inquiry, it was i'm
possible to obtain any tangible evil
dence against her. Among our
guests, on the evening in question,
was a gentleman named Garstang,
who filed the post Of accountant in
the bank here.ibut who was on the
ave Of his departure to take the mana
Qership at N. My wife was al
ways firmly impre ssed with the idea
that GarstaDg was connected with the
disappearance of her jewels, but of
course l looked upon such a suspicion
as simply preposterous; in fact, her
only grounds for it were. her general
dislike to him, and the fact that he
had departed before the rest of the
company upon what she thought an
insufficient plea.
whether l wrong him or not I
cannot tell, and may never know, "
said Mrs. Wilmot, but have always
felt an irresistible conviction that my
Impression was right. You know.
Stephen, that l expressed a dislike to
Mr. vhen first | saw saw him There