The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-09-29

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people in the country give to such calls. "Ano
now think of it, Mr.. Bixby, | have another
call to make on your street. l think | vii
walk up with you, and so get around to Fletch.
ers at nine o'clock. My husband has severa
letters to write, so he will not miss me-"
Foster Houghton sat in sort of maze, while
fate thus arranged affairs for him. though they
tended to consummation which was far from
welcome to his mind His wife went out fol
her smelling salts, her spectacles and her heavy
shawl; and Bixby snatched the brief opportu.
nifty:
II have told you everything, Squire, that you
need to know. Keep your mind easy and your
head cool, and the whole thing may be done as
easy as turning your hand over. Remember
that it is the only way to save the bank and
catch the men that may have robbed dozen
banks Do not stir out of the house again this
evening, or you will excite suspicion and ruin
the game. Between twelve and two you may
expect your company; and rely upon me in
hiding close to the bank. Mum is the word -
For Mrs. Houghton was descending the stairs.
"Come in again when you come back, Blk
by ; can't you" said the cashier, still 10th to
close so hasty and so singular bargain.
"Not for the world" replied the constable.
"It would expose our hand at once, and spoil
the trick. Now, Mrs. Houghton, Pm really
proud to bo the beau to such sprightly young
BELLE"
And so, with word of farewell, they were
off, and Foster Houghton sat alone in the house
with his secret.
He was not coward, but man of peace by
temperament and training, and the enterprise
in which he had been enlisted was both foreign
and distasteful to him. How many incidents
might occur, not set down in Bixby's pro-
%1,o arI- both rlop-
gerous and disagreeable His very loneliness
made the prospect seem doubly unpleasant. A
dozen times, as he sat musing over it, he put
forth his hand for his boots with intent to go
out and frustrate the robbery in his own way,
regardless of Bixby's schemes for capture and
glory. AS many times he fell back in his easy
chair, thinking now that he was bound in honor
by his tacit agreement with the constable, and
again that the whole story was nothing but the
fruit of the officers fertile Imagination, and
that only the inventor should render himself
ridiculous by his credultity Now he wished
his wife was at home to make the waiting mo-
ments pass more quickly; that Harry was there
to give the aid of his daring and the stimulus
of his boyish enthusiasm in the strange emer-
gency. And sometimes the old mans thoughts
wandered, in spite of the excitement of the
hour, to his boy, dancing away the night at
Tinborough. He recalled his anxiety over his
sons dissipation, his associates, his growing
recklessness of manner, his extravagant tastes,
the look of hard defiance in his face but an
hour OF two before His heart yearned over
the lad in spite of his wild ways, like David's
over Absalom, and he resolved to try the
mothers method and imagine excuses, and re-
place harshness with indulgence, hereafter.
The village bell changed out from the steeple
close by, and Foster Houghton dropped the
thread of his reverie with q start, and went
back to the robbery again. Clearly he was
getting too nervous He must do something to
shake it off
"Ill get Harrys revolver" he thought with
little purpose what he should do with it; and
he took the lamp and went up stairs to the
boys empty room. The drawers were thrown
open in confusion which offended the cashiers
neat prejudices acquired in the profession. He
knew where the pistol was kept, but its box
was empty; and he exclaimed under his
breath
s'That is boy all over. He goes to Tinbor
carries pistol, loaded, / dare say to the muz-
zle. 1t is ten to one he will shoot himself or
his sweetheart before the evening is over"
As Mr. Houghton fumbled over the bureau
his hand encountered o covered flask. Even
his unaccustomed nose was able to recognize its
contents as whiskcy; and his regret at such
discovery in his sons room was lost in the JOY
with which he hailed stimulant so greatly
needed to put his nerves in condition for the
events to come Perhaps he forgot how long
it was since he called in such q reinforce
ment perhaps his hands shook; perhaps he
thought the occasion required a large dose. He
took hearty one; and when he was down
stairs again the difficulties in the way of bag
ging the burglars vanished from his mind. He
was young man once more, and entered into
the romance of Bixby's plot, he said to him
self, as enthusiastically as Harry would have
done. He paced the room with an elastic
stride very different from the nervous wavering
step with which he had heard the news. Bixby
and himself, he thought, would be enough to
overpower any three burglars. Then his head
was heavy, and he felt drowsy. To be in prop
he needed all the sleep he could get. The re-
solve was one to be executed as promptly as
formed and in few minutes later the cashier
had locked the door, fastened the lower win
dows, and was snugly in bed.
A gentle tinkle Of the door bell aroused him
again before, as it seemed to him, he had fairly
closed his eyes. "The robbers at last" he
thought; and then he rebuked himself for the
absurdity of supposing that burglar would
announce his coming BY the door-bell. "It is
Bixby, of course" he said to himself, "come to
own he was fool and the story all nonsense" I"
But he paused before he turned the key, and
said in his fiercest tone "Who is there?"
''It is only me- Foster" said the sweet, ia
miliar voice of his wife, without; and when he
had admitted her she told him, in her quick
way, that after she had watched with the child
an hour or two, professional nurse who had
been sent for week before had arrived unex-
pectedly, and that she had been glad to giveup
her vigil and come home
Foster Houghton rarely did anything with
out thinking twice about it, if not more; SO it
came about that while he balanced in his mind
the pros and cons as to revealing to his wife the
secret which Bixby had confded to him, and
thus give her a fright in advance for what
might prove to be false alarm after all, the
t;red ladu went sound To sleen: and thus the