The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-04-29
COL. DEM. -. VOL. XXXIV.. 10

don't matter TO me- 1 have done what
promised, and there's an end of it ="
He turned TO the door. The minute
hand of the clock was getting on from
the twenty minutes to the quarter.
"Done what you promised" | re-
peated, getting up to stop him.
"Yes," he said, with his hand on the
lock. 81 have given my message.
Whatever happens, remember that
Good afternoon"
He was gone before i could speak
again.
L tried to call after him, but my
speech suddenly failed me. 1t was
foolish, it was very unaccountable, but
there was something in the mans last
words which had more than half fright
ened me.
l looked at the clock. The minute
hand was on the quarter.
My Office was just far enough from
the bank to make it necessary for me to
decide on the instant. If 1 had had
time to think, am perfectly certain
that / should not have profited by the
extraordinary warning that had Just
been addressed to me. The suspicious
appearance and manners of the stran-
ger the outrageous improbability of
the inference against the credit of the
bank, toward which his words pointed;
the chance that some underhand at.
tempt was being made, by some enemy
of mine, to frighten me into embroiing
myself with one of my best friends,
through showing an ignorant distrust
of the firm with which he was associa-
ted as partner-all these considerations
would unquestionably have occurred to
me If l could have had time for refiec-
ton; and, as a necessary consequence,
not one farthing of my balance would
have been taken from the keeping of
the bank on that memorable day.
AS it was, had just time enough to
act, ana not spare moment for think
ing. Some heavy payments made at
the beginning of the week had so far
decreased my balance that the sum to
my credit in the banking book barely
reached fifteen hundred pounds.
1 snatched up my check book, wrote
draft for the whole amount, and Or
dered one of my clerks to run to the
bank and get it cashed before the doors
closed. What impulse urged me on ex-
cept the blind impulse of hurry and be-
wilderment l can't say. 1 acted me
chanically, under the influence of the
vague, ,inexplicablef fear which the mans
extraordinary parting words had arous-
ed in me, without stopping to analyze
my own sensations-almost without
knowing what was about. In three
minutes from the time when the stran-
ger had closed my door the clerk had
started for the bank, and was alone
again in my room, with my hands as
cold as ice and my head all in a whirl.
l did not recover my control over my
self until the clerk came back with the
notes in his hand. He had just got to
the bank in the nick of time. AS the
cash for my draft was handed to him
over the counter, the clock struck five,
and he heard the order given to close
the doors.
When | had counted the bank notes
and had locked them up in the safe, my
better sense seemed to come back to
me on sudden. Never have / re.
preached IN yself before or since as /
reproached myself at that moment.
What sort Of return had / made for
Mr.. Fauntleroy's fatherly kindness to
me? | had insulted him by the meanest,
the grossest distrugt of the honor and
the credit of his house, and that on the
word of an absolute stranger, of Il vag-
abond, if ever there was one yet. 1t
was madness-down. right madness in
any man to have acted as / had done.
| could not account for my own ineon-
ceivably thoughtless proceeding. 1
could hardly believe in it myself. /
opened the safe and looked at the bank
notes again. l locked it once more,
and flung the key down on the table
in fury of veXation against myself.
There the money was, upbraiding me
with my own inconceivable folly,
telling me in the plainest terms that |
had risked depriving myself of my best
and kindest friend henceforth and for
ever.
1t was necessary to do something at
once toward making all the atonement
that lay in my power. | felt that, as
soon as | began to cool down little,
there wasbu one plain, ,straightforwar
way now left out of the scrape in which
had been mad enough to involve my
self. l took my hat, and, without
stopping an instant TO hesitate, hur-
ried off to the bank to make aclean
breast OF it to Mr.. Fauntleroy.
When 1 knocked at the private door
and asked for him, | was told that he
had not been at the bank for the last two
days. One of the other partners was
there, however, and was working at
that moment in his own room,
| sent in my name at once, aud asked
to see him. He and l were little better
than strangers to each other, and the
interview was likely to be, on that ae-
count, unspeakably embarrassing and
humiliating on my side. Still, could
not go home. l could not endure the
inaction of the next day, the Sunday,
without having done my best on the
spot to repair the error into which my
own folly had led me. Uncomfortable
as felt at the prospect of the approach
ing interview, should have been far
more uneasy in my mind if the partner
had declined to see me.
To my relief the bank porter return
ed with message requesting me to
walk in.
What particular form my eXplana-
tions and apologies took when ! tried
TO offer them is more than | can tell
now | WAS so confused and distressed