Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-04-12

Turning suddenly ronnd ! beheld my
host with the hot water had called for
In q tumbler IN his hand, lie was
quite beside me, and his eyes rested, or
! fancied they rested, on tho package
upon tho table, | must confess ! was
sensibly startled by this incident. My
concern was not diminished by obscrv-
Ing that he had removed his boots from
his feet and was then standing as he had
come up, in his stockings. My first
impulse and act was TO take the water
out of his hand. Not being quite ready
to use It ] put the envclop Of money on
the top of it as the most convenient
thing to keep It hot \ did not turn
the supcrscription downward, because
| feared II would betray the suspicious
which now positively entertained of
evil intentions on the part Of my enter
taincr, who Quilted the room as noise
lcssly as he had entered, ] imagined
u great many ways in which he could
have become acquainted with the cause
Of my journey, and came rapidly to the
conclusion that my employers funds
were in danger. That they were actual
ly so became evident before the night
had passed. recalled the mans coun-
tcnancc vividly TO my rcccollcction,
and examined from memory his features
so rs TO estimate the character with
which / had to deal. Physically he
was more than my equal. When |
first alighted at the house it struck me
/ had seen him before, and after some
moments of further profound reflection
l distinctly recalled him to my mind as
q merchant who had dealt with our
firm during my early connection with
it, and who had failed through the dis.
honesty of friends Of whom he had
assisted. remembered him as having
been spoken of as disgusted with trade,
and as having sought Il home in the
wilderness with his family, and earning
a living literally by the sweat of his
brow.
There were but two bedrooms in the
house, both on the same floor, pas
sage which began at the head Of the
stairs deviding them. While the
thoughts which have, related were
passing through my NINA heard Voices
in the other bedroom and quietly open
ed my door which my host had
closed behind him. Standing out in
the passage l could distinguish mans
and woman's voice. AT first their Ian
guage was unintelligble, but gradually
my ear became accustomed to the duty
l endeavored to put it to, and l could
distinguish that the burden of their
talk was their domestic expenses, and
the general current of their thoughts
was the difficulty of getting through
with certain undertakings they had in
contemplation or had commenced. 1t
was evident that the man was more
hopeful than the woman. My excited
Imagination at once framed the theory
that the treasure in my possession was
designed by them to solve this diff
Guilty, and that the reluctant man was
being urged on by the less scrupulous
or braver woman.
A sudden movement of one of them
toward the door caused me to retreat
into my room. | heard the bolt of their
door moved, and supposing it was to
unfasten it, hurried back into my own
apartment and caught at the envelope,
intending to hasten it out of sight. In
my eagerness to grasp it, it fell off the
tumbler with the wafered side upper
most and opened! The wafer had
been so far dissolved by the heat and
moisture as to split in two, leaving one
half of each (there were three) on the
flap, and the other half of each on the
body of the envelope. Meanwhile,
there was no sign or sound Of an in
road into my room, which l had seen
it was impossible to fasten the door
save by moving some of the furni-
ture against it. l became convinced
that as yet everything was safe, and
yielding to a feeling of curiosity drew
the money from the inclosure and
counted it over. There were ten one
thousand dollar bills l was astOnish-
ed, and for the time forgot the fear that
so recently harassed me. l looked at
tho memorandum OH the back of the
envelope.
1t was "S5 5,O00." The letter was
opened before me. read it over. 1t
named 81, 900 as the sum enclosed
There was evidently an error. l
| oouptod II oypr ayain Ten thousand