Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-03-13
VOL. 73.-3726. NO. %.

| "Fll be as gentle as | can with the bov
Tor his fathers sake" he said to his wife,
but can't keep MIN, and can't recon.
mend him and of course, there's very little
chance for him after that"
" Chance q" said Mrs. Markham. "And
| what does he desire, my dear You are too
lenient altogether"
The next morning Moreland was met on
| his arrival with looks he did not understand
and his CONSERVATION, when he heard of
what he was suspected, was intense lie in
formed Mr.. Markham that the person he had
| seen passing the door had been lady who
was engaged to him. They were TO be mar
| ried very soon, but he had not seen her for
year. She had Just come TO the city, and
was on her way from the train to the house
| of an aunt, where the wedding ceremony
was to be performed
"Ot course ! could not let her pass" said
young Moreland. " Mr.. Markham you don't
believe could do such thing, that could
be so ungrateful. II is certainly my fault
that the money is lost | am responsible for
it in leaving it on the desk, but don't think
me thief. Don't do that Mr. Markham"
For moment the old gentleman wavered.
Then he said
Perhaps I'm an old fool but--you're
confess, for heavens sake. No-no-well
well, don't look so, boy. Other young fel-
lows have been there, I'll believe you. Go
to your place"
So young Moreand stayed. Mrs. Mark
ham led her husband life of it for a week
or tive, but nothing went wrong again.
Moreland paid the lost money by degrees,
and married as he intended to- but the oc-
casion and the doubt that might remain in
his employers mind clouded his spirits
greatly. lie was scarcely the same man.
His health failed somewhat, and his sleep
was troubled. Mrs. Markham laid the
change in him to conscious guilt. Mr.. Mark
ham doubted and wondered. He had tried
TO believe in Toms boy, but circumstantial
evidence was against him. So matters
stood year from the loss of the bill, when
one day, being quite alone in the Office the
old gentleman sat writing a note at the desk,
and overturned the ink-stand
The green baize was saturated at once.
Mr.. Markham, who was very neat, was
greatly annoyed by the circumstance.
"l'll tear it off, The said, and send some
one to put on new. ! can't have a stained
desk"
Then taking a paper knife he inserted
the point under the baize, and up it came,
stained, dingy and torn.
" Bah said Mr.. Markham, and tossed
it into the waste paper basket Before him
lay the bare, unpublished wood that the baize
had concealed, and glued to it by the pres
sure and heat-a bank note. A bank note
of the value of one hundred dollars, with
writing in red ink across one end. The note
which he had accused Tom Moreand of steal.
ing, and which he himself had pushed under
the baize and gummed in unconscousy.
1t was forty years since old Mr.. Markham
had shed a tear, but there in the solitude
of his office he sat down and sobbed as
woman might
" / might have ruined the young fellows
prospects for life; | have insulted and hurt
him." he said "By George, III make it
up to himi !"
To-day Tom Moreland is partner in the
firm, and as prosperous and happy a man as
you can find and Mr.. Markham has one
precept which he endeavors to fix on every
youthful mind: "Never rely entirely on cir
cumstautial evidence. MARY Kyle Dallas.