The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1884-11-28

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Clifford had given him. and looked very
grave and suspicious all the time.
Then he locked up the notes in the
safe, and just then Hope opened the
door of the little Office and looked in.
AT last" said BARLEY.
well. sir" said Hope. IL have only
been half an hour, and | have changed
my clothes and stood witness to mar
riage. She begged Inc SO hard; was at
the door. Such beautiful girl! could
not take my eyes off her.,
"The child!" said BARLEY, with nat
ural Impotence.
II have hidden her in the yard"
Bring her this moment, while the
clerks are out"
Hope hurried out. and soon returned
with his child, wrapped up in n nice
warm shawl he had bought her with
Bartley's money.
BARLEY took the child from him look
ed at her face, and said, Little darling,
/ shall love her as my own" then he
begged Hope to sit down in the lobby
till he should call him and introduce
him to his clerks. "One of them is q
thief, I'm afraid
He took the child inside, and gave her
to his confederate, the nurse.
"Dear me-" thought Hope, "0nly two
clerks. and one of them dishonest. /
hope it is not that good-natured boy.
Oh no! impossible"
And now BARLEY returned and at the
same time MoncktOn came briskly in
through the little Office.
At sight of him BARLEY said ooh,
MoncktOn, | gave that fellow Bolton u
weeks notice. But he insists on going
directly" Moncktonreplied, slyly. that
he was sorry to hear that.
Suspicious? Eh?" said BARLEY.
$50 suspicious that if were Youth
deed, Mr.. BARLEY, think, in justice to
me, the matter onght to be cleared to
| the bottom"
you are right" said BARLEY; I'll
have him searched before he goes.
Fetch me detective at once"
BARLEY then wrote u line upon his
card, and handed it to Monckton, di-
recting him to lose no time. He then
rushed out Of the house with an air of
virtuOus indignation, and went to make
some delicate arrangements to carry
out Il fraud. which. begging his pardon,
was as felonous, though not SO prosaic.
as the one he suspected his young clerk
of. MOncktOn was at first little taken
aback by the suddenness of all this; but
he was too clear-headed to bc long at
point. Well. he must shoot flying.
In moment he was at the safe, whip
ped out bunch of false keys, opened
the safe, took out the cash-boX, and
swept all the gold it contained into his
own pockets, and took possession of the
notes. Then he locked up the cash-boX
again, restored it to the safe, locked
that, and sat down at Bartley's table.
He ran over the notes with feverish fin
gers, and then took the precaution to
examine Bartley's day-boOk. His eau
ton was rewarded-he found that the
notes Bolton had brought in were nurn-
bered. He instantly made two parcels
-clapped the unnumbered notes into
his pocket. The numbered ones he took
in his hand into the lobby, and inserted
the numbered notes into young Cliff
fOrd's coat, and the false keys into his
bag.
lie then started for the detective.
But it was bitter cold, and he returned
to the lobby for his own OvercOat. AS
he opened the lobby door the swing-doOr
moved, or he thought so; he darted to
it and opened it, but saw nobody, Hope
having whipped behind the open door
of little room. MoncktOn then put on
his OvercOat, and went for the detective.
lie met Clifford at the door, and wore
An insolent grin of defiance, for which,
if they had not passed each other rapid
ly, he would very likely have been
Knocked down. As it was, Walter Cliff
ford entered the Office flushed with
wrath, and eager to leave behind him
the notifications and humiliations he
had endured. MN
lie went to his own little desk and
tore up Lucy MilIer's letters. and his
nj I'm nd In
into the lobby, and, feeling hot, which
was no wonder, bundled his office over
coat and his brush and comb into his
bag. lie returned to the office for his
peifknife, and was going out all in
hurry. when Mr.. BARLEY met him.
BARLEY looked rather stern, and said,
A word with you Sir"
Certainly, sir" said the young man.,
stifIly. tif tttt
Mr.. BARLEY sat down at his table and
fixed his eyes upon heyoung man with
avery peculiar look.
you seem i'm a very great hurry to
CO."
"Well, an"
"YOu have not even demanded your
salary up TO date"
Excuse the oversight: / was not
made for business YOU know"
There is something more to settle
besides your salary"
premium for good cOnductw
mo, sir. Mr.. Bolton, you viii find
this no testing matter. There are de-
falcations in the accounts. sir"
The youngman turned serious at once.
IL am sorry to hear that. sir" said he,
with proper feeling.
BARLEY eyed him still more severely.
"And even cash distracted"
Good heavens" said the young man,
answering his eyes rather than his
words. "Why, surely you can't suspect
me?"
BARLEY answered, sternly, 81 know l
have been robbed; and so / suspect
everybody whose conduct is suspicious"
This was too much for Clifford to
bear. He turned on him like lion.
Your suspicious disgrace the trader
who entertains them, not the gentleman
they wrong. You are too old for me to
give you thrashing, so | won't stay
here any longer to he insulted."
lie snatched up his bag and was
marching off, when the door opened,
and Moncktonw itha detective confront
al hin,