The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-09-19
f5S eco" "
CHAPTER I.

"Dart, Maitland, Dart s. Co."
So the name stood upon the great
brass plate ; and in these names had the
business of the bank been p,udently and
pro6tably conducted for as many years
as the majority of the inhabitants OF
marlborough could recall.
Trade panics had laid -:.ste many
another long-established firm ; bank
ruptcy had swooped Unexpectedly upon
many house where wealth had seemed
as limitless as here but the bank OF
Messrs. Dart, Maitland, Dart & Co. held
It's head high above all treacherous
waters. and stood unmoved and utterly
secure after the heaviest. gales had
passed.
. The name Of the firm was passport
of trust and reliance, as we'll was q
prompt introduction to the first society
Of the country ), and the present repre-
sentatives were these: Maurice Dart,
the senior partner, q handsome man Of
fifty.threel years, who imagined the
wishes. the weaknesses, and the hopes
peculiar to other men, could not move
him now and Walter Maitland, both in
appearance and manner, strong con-
trast to his senior partner. Though but
ten years younger, he looked nearer
thirty than forty, and the frankness of
his blue eyes, and the gay words so
prompt upon his lips, seemed doubly
frank and doubly gay, contrasted with
his seniors reticence and gravity. The
third partner was one in name alone.
His fathers death had left him rich
share III the bank, but his only inter
course with it was the polite periodical
acknowledgment of its having swept
away the debts. which were the worst
enemies he had had to fight since he
entered the army. About the eco. y
there was, of course, that vagueness
which is inseparable from the cognomen.
In the outer world it was supposed that
an unlimited number of people had in
vested their savings or THEN patrimony
on purpose to be considered "of the
firm" But among the clerks only one
case was known with certainty. He was
neither the oldest nor the most ex-
perienced, though the most cheerful,
perhaps, and the most industrious. BE
had deposited in the firm the sum which
his father, through forty years course
of valued and profitable managership,
lad accumulated. to bequeath to him
and so, being enabled to draw what
doubled his salary as clerk. Tom Leslie
looked upon himself as a partner OF no
mean order, but built lofty castles for a
time when his name should stand upon
the brass plate otherwise than as "Co. VI
Cheerfully and constantly he erecte
these edifices; but to attempt to lay
their foundations on te7ra frIaa, either
by saving or speculating, never entered
Tens head. With hts mother-a little
old lady, as hopeful, and cheerful, and
trustful as he was hims lf-Tom lived il
a pretty white cottagel eyond the town
and here he had flowers all the yeal
round, and birds, .tLat sang in the
} gloomiest weather, and piano on which
he was no mean performer. And, at
regularly as Saturday morning came
around, Tom, taking his hat, would say.
in the most natural manner
"I think we should like couple Of
the younger fellows out to dinner to-
morrow-shouldn't we, mother? Their
salaries are not like mine; and things are
dear, you say"
True, their salaries were not like his, but
then he would not lave the small, bright
house, nor the small, bright mother, de-
MED any comfort he could think of. and
80 there was never one penny OF Toms
salary left when the year was up.
Once or twice Mrs. Leslie would in
apire, ruefully where her. son picked W
ag einnerless clerks whom he delighted
to bring home to superior, as he al
ways called it: to little music" Blu
her genial hospitality was, after all
r as prompt as his, and so, though sht
kept the accounts, there was, as 1 said
never a penny of Toms salary left whe1
the year was up.
File thinks that that G400 a year O
his is kings revenue" thought Mrs
Leslie, one Saturday morning, watching
her son cross the road, drop his gift intt
the expectant hand of the crossins
sweeper. and turn at the corner to noe
=. te her. e He will soon expect me te
adopt q few young men whose salaries