The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1885-04-19
THE MYSTERY SOLVED.

O1hAb
s'AssuredlyI do not. he is passable;
that's all ~
s'Then it will be Harry Rogers"
'sNever Harry Rogers is not endurable
with his mild ways and his meek courtesy =
.sThat will do to tell me, Miss May Sam
ders, but wait till either of the gentlemen
proposes to you, and you will accept.
s'They have both proposed, and both
proposed and both been refused within the
past twenty-four hours. There now, what
what do you think of that2 Haven't / just
little bit of spirit and independence ?"
"Why, May Saunders, you are silly girl
have made the first great mistake of your
life. Reconsider what you have done, and
accept one or the other of them.
81 will do no such thing. I'll live and
die an old maid before I'll marry either of
them, or any other man, for the matter of
that"
1--WE will both live long enough to see
things come out differently"
This bit of dialogue took place between
my intimate friend, May Saunders, and
myself on her twenty fourth birthday, and
I had been rallying her because she had
only one more milestone to pass until she
entered the domain of old maiddom-if
allo vance be made for coming the word
and I had been advising her to marry be-
fore she crossed the borderland.
John Brant was book-keeper, and Harry
Rogers was cashier in the bank of Iveson Il
Co., and both were excellent young men.
] knew that both were devoted admirers of
May, but was greatly surprised to learn
that they both had proposed, and still more
dismayed to learn that both had been re-
jected.
s'Tell me, May" said, "what objection
could you have to Harry Rogers? He is an
exceptionally splendid young man, and no
one stands higher in the public esteem in
the whole town of Dayton"
81 presume she replied, "that dislike
him because everyone praises him. He is
unselfsh, 1 grant it. and gentle and cour-
teous, and all that, but to my mind he lacks
selt-assertion, without which no mans man
hood Is complete or perfect"
ssWell, that charge does not lie against
John Brant. He has self-assertion enough
for any one mana little more, in fact,
than l admire, but perhaps not too much
to suit your taste and fancy"
''John Brant is well enough, so far as
that goes" May rejoined, ''and do not
mind telling you that like him infinitely
better than do Harry Rogers, but not well
enough to link my fate with his.
Sand why not?"
81 can hardly tell. There is something
about him that / can not comprehend
something that is unfathomabIe, and a
secret monitor whispers to me never to
marry him, even if I should fall in love
with him, which seems not only absurd but
impossible"
was quite overcome with the peculiar
situation Of affair 4 dssaw that it would
be waste of time> yolunteef, any sort of
advice or undertake solution of the knot
ty problem. So I concluded to leave the
solution to the deft fingers of Time.
Both the young gentlemen continued to
pay their usual attentions to May. The
gossips of the town were in ignorance of
the fact that both had already been re-
jected. and consequently there was nothing
to interfere with their speculations as to
which would win her in the end.
watched my friend narrowly, and from
time to time cautiously sounded her feel
ings, and made up my mind that il was
only question of time until Miss May
Saunders would be Mrs. John Brant Her
Partially was sufficiently marked to show
the drift of the tide.
IOlu JOun DIdl4b u WAS AD1c w lcdIA Va db
he regarded Harry Rogers as o rivsl-and q
rival whom he both feared and hated, lot
withstanding their close business relations,
But I was entirely unable to discover that
Harry Rogers looked upon Brant as rival
in any sense of the word.
On several occasions he confded in me
far enough to express both his amazement
and pain that May sheuld SO persistently
reject his love without giving him any rea-
sonable explanation. ~ ~
s.Perhaps she thinks yeu lack self-asser-
tion," said to him in the way of suggss'
ton.
ssThat is what she told me herself, but I
can not understand it. don't know what
she means by il. attend to nay business
and don't NEEDLE with other peoples.
There has never yet been an occasion when
it was necessary for me to set up my opis-
ion in opposition to my superiors do
not know whether would have the proper
amount of selt-assertion to do SO success
fully. but / certainly would stand by my
convictions of right ~
There was a comlnotion one day in the
banking house of Iveson u Co. When the
door closed in the afternoon and the 0ash
was balanced, Cashier Rogers was found to
be just five hundred pounds short.
Every transaction of the day was gone
over, the members of the firm taking part
in the work, but there was no way of &C
counting for the deficit.
The payments made during the day were
feA in number, and Harry Rogers was able
to remember the whole list. and before
night he had called on each of them. hop.
ing to discover that he had made an over
payment of The amount of his deficit in one
of them. But be had not.
At last it was concluded that thief had
snatched package of bills when the cash
Ter was not Looking.
But Harry mentally refused to assent Ia
any such an idea, although he could give
NO sort of IN explanation for the disappear
ance of the money, He Yves cautioned to
be more circumspect in the future, and all
the bank employees were enjoinod not tc
speak of the occurrence.
harry Rogers was able to definitely set
tie one point--that the missing money con
sisted of five one hundred pound notes
and the chief of police was informed of the
matter and instructed to keep quiet look
out, through the detectives, for the appear
ance of such large notes in the hands o
suspicious persons.
When Harry Rogers was at home tina
evening gainly trying to find some tenablt
theory about the atolen funds, John Bran
was spending the time with May Saunders
and finally told her of the mysterious loss
but how did it It escape getting into tn
evening papers2" enquiyed May,
"Oh, its q great secret, and isn't to b
spoken Of outside the bank, Was Rrant'
reply.
ssWe2 shen. you are an excellent ham
to keep secret, Mr.. Bfant, ! must say.
John Brant WINGED under this retoFt,
s.How do you account for the loss of tn
money, Mr.. Rrant 2"
81 don't account for it. There's onl
one man who can. "