The Portland daily press., 1873-02-08

4ho,,ot + don't believe she VIII ever lose
thot tho NV boy, am I tedious?'
ssVery Go on"
..Don't DDoy't blow your smoke in my eyes, then,
or vou'Il swear I'm crying.
sfWe well; forward?'
''Where was l? This went on a while the
old man keeping the ship on the old tack
close-hauled, flag at the peak, and pumps
agolnS. But there came day when the
wofla could do little for Abram Woodsop.
ana ne could do less for the world. One morn
ing, when Amy was helping him on with his
coat to go to the bank, he staggered and iell
upon the sofa. The doctor came and said
Paralysis. He revived somewhat, but the
ola gentleman was wreck Of the saddest
KIND; He couldn't speak an ineligible
word. Amy became his hands, eyes and
mlnd Roy Elwell was appointed acting
cashier, for the directors would not supersede
| him at once. He fingered for months with
| his faculties at skies and sevens. One day he
said something that sounded like May tenth,'
and soon after he dropped anchor for the
/ asst tme''
The bank officers, when examining his
cash and accounts, discovered deficiency
ofbetween one and two thousand dollars.
| And they who had held the old general as in
corruptible said, There is none true under
| the sum- His bondsmen were called upon,
and the few, which finally means the many,
thought they knew the cashier had used the
! funds in his keeping.
Amy, living secluded with her old domes-
| tic, Betty Floyd, was ignorant of the affair at
| the bank. She kn ted worsted work, ard
! fitted ball-dresses for her schoolmates of old
days. Young Skinnem offered her what he
called his heart. By Jove, twenty young
fellows would have come forwari her
hand, but there was something in her way
that wouldn't let man with decent heart
offer it. Skinnem thought his magnanimity
twenty per cent. above par. He had inherit
ed from his father the mortgage on the Wood
son homestead, which he threatened to fore
close. Troubles came in troops.
Looking over her fathers papers one day,
Amy discovered note addressed to her.
1t was in the neat hand of the general It
told her that he wrote this for her in case
anything should happen to him-that the
world, after he was gone, might judge him
amiss. That he hal, it is true, wronged her,
his sweet, beloved daughter; that he had
been false to his trusteeshp; that their
means were all gone with the broken land
bubble-that his heart and thought were
long sick with the secret OF it; that, May
| the 10th of such year, he had found his
cash unaccoCntably short and no man yet
| knew it. Ifhe lived long enough he should
| make it up; yes, make it up, every cent;
| but Amy must wait for hers; perhaps he
could never make that up, and if he did not
would his darling daughter forgive him?
Amy bowed beneath this blow. Now ap-
peared the reason of the unpaid bills and the
| ill-supplied no lsehold. And the thought
came to the stricken girl, how once she had
proposed to sell share of her bank stock and
buy gold watch and chain, and on New
Years morning she found them under her
breakfast cup, a present from her father. 1
| get all this from sister Nell, of whom she
made confdant. Yes, Hal, ANY bowed
lily without and rock Within She sent for
Roy Elwell. She pressed Roy until she drew
| from the reluctant fellow the affair as viewed
by the directors 1t was plain case to them.
land enterprise-an opportunity for max
ing money-and the cashier yielding to tempt
alton, borrowed the funds of the bank, think
ing to enrich himself and return the money.
They were all the more ready to look on the
| dark side side for him, as many of their dol
lars had gone the way of ais, The fever had
been among them, too.
This point OF view was not plain to Amy
Through Elwell, who had been made cashier
after the death OF the general, she obtained
permission from the officers to make a per-
sonal examination of tho books, TO be aided
by Roy. Her knowledge of bank routine was
| now serviceable.
| About this time returned from an Indian
voyage I.served as boy in the bank awhile,
invited me to lend them hand. l was glad
for her sake, not to say my own.
Hal. are you yawning?'
spin away, spin away, my old boy.''
| 'Well, we met and made our plans, agree
ing to make researches after Elwell had fin
ished his days work. By George, Hal, You
ought to have seen the girl. Her perceptions
were all quickened by pride and love for the
honor of the old man. The theory of the
directors was not the theory of the daughter.
| She admitted nothing but the existence of an
error that might yet be revealed Roy and I
| followed her with a low assent We began
| We turned to that May the 10th, which he
| mentioned in the note and named in the
| night of his speechlessness. We took the
first entry of the deposits; we analyzed it.
Ii fblls, it was not so noted; if checks, we
followed them to their final entry: And so
through each and all. Amy surprised us by
her tho.rI,oughness. Items that Roy and
were willing to check, as being correct be-
yond question, she looked to again and again
before dismissing. The general had been,too
much narrowed by the trouble to make any
systematic analysis of that days transactions
at the time. Whe knows but the error, if
one, would have been detected had he called
his qucker-eyed daughter into his CONF
dence?
We finally arrived at the end Of that
days labor, and summing up the figures, we
found the balance on hand was two thousand
dollars less than the amount required Here
now was chance for speculation. What be-
came OF the sum? Amy was not long in de-
cldlpg that its equivalent had been mislaid-
some check misplaced; but this was merely
guess-work.
Her proposition, at next meeting. was to
search thoroughly the papers in the safe. Not
succeeding there, books and papers in tie
leaf by leaf. Thorough ?" l think so. 1t
was slow, laborious process. Her patience
was astonishing. Her glance seemed as
though would burn the papers it fell on.
But they could not reveal secret not in their
keeping.
Where was the waste paper put? In
basket. And emptied where? Roy couldn't
say. The old woman VINO swept the rooms
was called. She emptied it, when full. into
dark closet, Sometimes when out of shay-
ings she used a little of it to start fire. Amy
turned pale. The search among the contents
OF the closet was assigned for the next day.
Was it narrowed to this, the chance of find
ing valuable paper in the rubbish? She
would have had more heart, but for the
knowledge of these occasional handfuls taken
for kindling. Piece by piece we went through
this accumulated heap of dusty, gone-by pa
pers, and without success.
Roy and 1 had foreseen the end-failure.
We didn't anticipate having to see that noble
girl sit down disconsolate, with the tears fall
ing upon her fallen hands, By Jove, I
would t have begun the work. 1t was ioy for
me to labor with her all the way, but when
that labor was brought to the bitter cnd-to
see hope go out of her heartily her blessed
blue eyes! Roy attended her home.
The next day he and were seated in the
bank, talking over the affair." Row said r
the Borneo, Charlie Lane, is due; can't we
see. from the skylight in the garret, if she is
in the bay?'
He proposed going up to see. Roy went
ahead and opened the skylight. The place
was dusty as grave, and just as jolly. There
was no Boraeo in sight. Account books and
bundles of paper lay here and there, with
dust upon them nearly inch deep. And over
these things, that had one day meaning and
value, and neither now. the spiders had
woven their homes, and were having in turn
their little cares. We looked about us curl
ousy, Roy remarking book on top of pile |
less dusty than than the others, proposed to
me to take it down stairs as a curiosity. /
did. The skylight was lowered, and two sun |
beams, that had vanished as we opened the |
light, came back again, and Law athwart ono