Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-08-01

uehl Ol llllo III hlf. DuH company. Inc
subject Of the missing money was broached
and discussed between them. II so happen
ed that George Trail was engaged to be mar
ried to Mary Duff and the banker, having
lost confidence in Hamilton, and feeling sore
ly in need of capable help, proposed that
George should apply to the directors of the
bank for the appointment Of joint agent or
partner with himself in the management Of
the Tollkirk branch SO il came about that
in a short time George Trail, shrewd prac-
tical business man, relieved Mr.. Duff at the
telling table, in order to familiarize himself
with the faces Of the banks customers. For
some days all went we'll Then came market
day. At the close of the day Mr. Trails
cash was five hundred pounds short
CHAPTER II.
Dismay fell on the quiet little bank in
Tollkirk. The former uneasiness became in
the Office n panic Hamilton had been made
i'll by the anxiety of his position, and was in
bed on the day when Mr. Trails deficiency
occurred. After closely scuini2ing every en-
try in the books Traill came to the conclusion
that he had not paid the money in excess to
any one, and that the notes must have been
stolen by some one on the premises. The
banks safe was duly examined; but the locks
bore no marks of being tampered with. The
windows and doors of the office were unutfect-
ed, and Mr.. Duf's domcstics-wh swept
out the office-had been his servants and
were known to him for years. The matter
was on this occasion reported to the banks
head office but thence came the cold intima-
ton that further deficiency could notbe made
good, and referring the bank agents TO their
recent letter to that effect of such and such a
date.
Mr.. Duff began to think the place was
haunted. Wherever the money had gone it
had to be paid up; raising the total losses
made in this mysterious way TO the uupalata-
BILE sum Of fourteen hundred pounds in less
than three months. The mystery was all the
deeper that during the day of the difference
in Trails cash, it had happened there had
not been single cash payment amounting to
five hundred pounds Then there came
vague rumors-such as the police, had the
matter passed into their hands, would GER
tainly have made use of-that there was an
itinerant locksmith, gypsy, in the ncighhor-
hood to whom rumor attributed almost mir
aculous power in the manipulation Of locks.
Yet it would take very clever locksmith in
deed to open the Central Banks safe unhcard
in the house, and to close il again without
leaving traces of his work. The safe had
foundation of eight feet Of stone and was
coated on the floor, wall, and roof with
two-iuch plate of solid iron. The doors were,
of course of iron, and each-there were four
doors-had two keys and separate locks.
Through the lock of the outer iron door an
iron bolt was each evening shot down from
Mr.. Du1's bedroom above, and while that
bolt was down no key in the world could
open the door. 1t was necessary to be in
Mr.. Duf's bedroom before the bolt could be
drawn or dropped II was extremely i'm
rNrohalla tlaf thor. IN frfllli Il lf,
could, even with the necessary keys in their
hands, find their way into the strong-room
unaided.
No longer was Mr.. Duff able to leave the
bank with an easy mind for two O'Clock
luncheoii-with forty winks TO follow as had
been his custom these twenty years. Yet
there was no visible cause for suspicion.
Bankers and clerks were fast becoming de
moralized-in the military sense-from sheer
fright, acceleratedb by mystery, and sense Of
utter helplessness in fnce Of it. Mr.. Duff
might far better be losing his fortune on the
Stock Exchange, or throwing his money away
in turf speculations in these there would be
some remote chance of profit if not satisfac-
tion in losing his properly. His bark had up
to this time sailed in smooth seas, had even
hitherto fioated i'll sheltered bay, unexposed
to financial tempests or breakers; but now a
leak Of dangerous sort had sprung, as like
ly he imagined, to ingulf him at his anchor
age MS any butIeting of waves in open sea.
Mr.. Duff became a changed man. He was
thin and worn and i'll with anxiety and watch
ing. They were all watching. Trail was
watching Hamilton Hamilton turned a keen
glance on the boys the boys kept their eyes
very widely open all round. Mr.. Duff was
unwilling to put the matter in the hands of
the local police, knowing that the first to be
gmgf4ptal would la HI ,.l.vlrs pl flgtt ba
affair would speedily become town gossip.
Secretly Mr.. Duff began to think the place
was bewitched.
His partner, George Trail, being called
upon to pay up half the GOO, resolved to get
to the bottom Of the matter. He had bed
fitted up in the bankers business room, and
determined to spend his nights there until
some solution OF the problem presented it.
self. His transfer from the Aberdeen branch
seemed just then to prove a bad bargain
The keys of the safe, it should be mentioned
numbering eight, were placed every night af-
ter the locking up of the safe and the drop
ping Of the iron bolt from the bankers bed
room, in n strong box, the key Of which was
always carried by Mr.. Duff George Traill
armed with a revolver, in spite of Mnry's pro-
tests and Mr.. DufI's jeers, occupied the room
when the bed had been fitted there, and wait
ed philosophically the course of events. He
slept little for the first night or two but no
intruder came to disturb his repOse. The
long, dull hours crept on without adventure
or other result than to make Trail sleepy
and cross during the following days. The
bankers were beginning to despair of discov-
ering the thief. Yet Traill-d despite Mr.
DufI's perfectly reasonable argument that if
any man broke into the safe it would not be
merely five hundred pounds that would salts
fy him, nor would he likely risk second or
third yisit-continued to spend his nights in
the bank
At aybreak, however, on a certain morn
ing in the following week. Trail, who slept
very lightly, was suddenly awakened and
startled 10y hearing the bolt that passed
through the lock of the outer door Of the safe
drawn sharply up. He could hardly believ
the evidence of his ears, thinking that per
haps he had dreamed. But the ''click" was
still reverberating, exaggerated as all sounds
are in the stiffness of night. If the bolt was
really lifted, the person who drew it up must
be in the room whore Mr. Duff slept. Trail
was Il courageous man but in spite of him
self, he trcmhl,d Il, he felt for and examined
his revolver When the reverberation sub
sided, there was silence for a few nom nts as
of DEATH Sleeps twin brother. Then he
thought he heard, afar off, a door open, fol-
lowed by step on the stairs. Then light
showed at the same time under me door;
presently the door opened, and man enter
ed, carrying in one hand lighted candle, in
the other bunch Of keys. The revolver
was firmly held in Trails grip, and before
firing he was about to utter cry of warning,
when he noted that the figure paid no heed 70
his presence, but passed him, making straight
for the safe door. In the dim light, 10 his as-
tonishment he distinguished the fixed, even
rigid features of his friend and partner, Mr..
Duff His eyes were wide open, and he
moved with his usual deliboraton, but with
an air of stern preoecupation quite foreign to
his working habits Trail saw at glance
that the banker was walking in his sleep.
His first impulse was to seize him and
wake him but moments reelection decided
him to wait the natural issue of events. Mr..
Duff, without hesitation or fumbling chose
the right keys for the outer door, and pushed
it, as the lock sprang back, slowly open
then the wicket-gate the inner iron door, and
so on, until he disappeared silently in the
vaultlike shades of the strong-room. When