Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-05-14
A CIRCUMSTANTIAL PUZZLE.
In THREE pARrs-PARr IL

The almost lnsuperable dlInculVy vi
telling a story with even grain OF truth
in it is this-or, should rather say, the
two insuperable difficulties are these
First, there is never the faintest dramatic
point about really true stories secondly, If
they are worth telling at all, they are al
most always incredible. And the truer
they are the more pointless and the more
Incredible they are. The story | am going
to tell is neither dramatic nor probable.
And yet it seems to me worth telhng-in-
dependently of its inherent curiosity-as
an instance of those extraordinary freaks
of psychology which now and again throw
out of gear altogether the everyday expe-
rience of practical men, among whom |
have some claim to be reckoned. It has,
also, a yet more important bearing upon
the manner of making delicate investIga-
tions which, if ! remember to 10 so, | may
perhaps take occasion to point out before
have done. As when / sent you my last
contribution to your museum Of profess
sional curiosities, / viii merge my own
proper personality in that OF my inform
ant, the solicitor who played so leading
and, for time, so uncomfortable part IN
the affair. For all purposes it is more con-
yenient to translate "he into al :"
when one is telling another mans story.
Indeed, it is almost essential to the pro-
cess of telling the tale as it was told to me.
l, then, early one forenoon, received
visit from my very best client, John Butler.
John Butler was gentleman who, still
hardly past the prime of life, had made a
considerable fortune as builder and con.
tractor. Altogether, there must have been
something out of the common about him, for
he had become the wealtby man he certainly
was seemingly in defiance OF all established
precedents and rules. He was not what is
commonly-and often very mistakenly
called ''good man of business :" he al
ways had more irons in the fire than he
could possibly attend to personally, or
even superintend generally, and he placed
such implicit trust in all who served him or
dealt with him as TO amount to credulity.
Nevertheless, | am by no means sure my
self of its being really singular that his
many irons should have taken excellent
care of themselves, and that he very
rarely indeed, at least to my knowledge,
found himself seriously deceived. | need
hardly say that, like all men Of such
q temper. to be found out in deceiving
him in the smallest trihe was to lose his
confidence irrevocably and for ever; so
that not only were moderately honorable
men put upon their honor to an unusual
degree in their relations toward one who
trusted them so completely, but the dis
honorable were by experience taught to
fear iDjuring one from whom everything
was to be gained but pardon. He certainly
was not one Of those who hold that in bust
ness man should have no enemies and no
friends. All men were his friends until, as
sometimes would happen, they became his
enemies. And yet one might know him
for years without suspecting that he had
any sort of temper at all. Doubtless it
was the consciousness on his own part of
having one, and the suspicion that it
might be a weakness or falling that
made him feel needlessly hard and reserved.
On the whole, l incline to ascribe his sue
cess in life less to courage and over-coni.
dence than to yet more unbusiness-lik
habit Of always doing his work little
better than his contract required. |
would pay ten per cent. higher rent,
any day, to live in a house that l
Knew TO have been built by John Butler
! should know that everything about
that house was better than it seemed. And
that is the chief reason why | set out by
speaking of him as a gentleman. For he
had risen from the lower roands of the
ladder, and, so far as he might be called
. diamond, was decidedly unpublished
one. He was, believe, a seriously relig-
ious man he was an unquestionably gen.
erous and charitable one not highly edu-
Gated, but with plenty of intelligence and
openness of mind. should add that he
had never been married, was without known
relations, and lived alone in thoroughly
respectable comfort, without pretense OF
any kind. The nature of his business, by
no means confined to the limits of the
northern town where we both lived, took
him about great deal, and no doubt
largely helped. him to do without much
society at home. For that matter he was,
socially speaking, above one-half the place
and below the other so, though univer-
sally respected, he must, on the whole,
have lived almost too much alone But in
this matter, as in all things, habit is every
thing; and so busy man had little time
to feel dull.
"Mr. Standish," he began, in the broad
north-country speech, which shall make
no pretense of reproducing, " something
mortal queer has happened that can't
make head or tail o.. It's not the moneys
worth, though fifty pound is fifty pound /;
bullock here p
Your check for fifty pounds, cashed by
the Redport branch OF the County Bank,
and returned to you in the regular course.
Well. what's wrong?"
do you see anything queer about that
check, Mr.. Standish-anything out OF the
way?'
mo. It's drawn to your order by
yourself, Endorsed by you and nothing
wrong about date or anything else that |
can see"
"And if you'd been clerk at Redport,
you'd have cashed that over the counter
without any bones p
"of course l should as / suppose from
this you have an account there"
And that's Just what was done, then
And all the same, that check was no more
filed up, nor signed, nor backed by me
than it was by you"
g You mean to say it's forged? By
Jove, that's serious thing. Do you mean
to say that some rascal has been clever
enough to fill up and sign whole check in
your handwriting, even down to the least
turn OF the small stroke of the pen I'd
have sworn to this being your own hand
writing before jury"
Ay, Mr.. Standish and so would /, II
dldn know. But do know /; and that 8
no more my check than it's yours. And
I'm hanged if / know what to do"
You've seen the bank manager here ?
What does he say p
"No, haven't. l haven't seen soul {;
aud what's more, don't mean to, unless
I'm driven. And it's TO get out of being
driven I've come to you. This check isn't
the first of EN-, Mr.. Standish no, nor the
second, nor yet the third. There's four
checks of fifty pounds apiece; and I've
not drawn one"
And you haven't found it out till
now?
i've found out nothing Mr.. Standish
mark that-not one word. NOthings