The Penn's Grove record., 1886-06-26

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suspicion Of having robbed his employ
ers Of 6 $4,000.
About 8 O'Clock in the evening a
knock came to the old mans door. 1t
was Robert Carter. Crump started to
his feet in indignation. Was this fell
low, whom he suspected to be the real
criminal, to come and gloat Over him In
bis misery2
But before he could speak Carter had
come lntothe room ndheld o~uthIshand.
81 came to tell you. Mr.. Crump,'
said be, show sorry we all are in the
office about this. None of us believe
you had anything to do with it, of
course. 1t will all come out, likely, in
a day or two"
Tie old man stared at him for a
minute or two without speaking and
without taxing Carter's hand.
'Begone, STRIP he cried at last.
"How dare you come here to insult me
with your sympathy You'd l fancy YOU
are tie one who knows most about it. "
Anne turned from one to the other
with bewlldered, terrified looks For
tunately she was the only other one of
the family in the room.
what is it, fatherP" she cried,
clasping her hands. "What is it you
say Robert knows more about than any
one elser Oh, tell me what has hap
pened2"
go TO your room, GIRL" said her
father, ~sternly. There is trouble
enough without your meddling IN 1t,
Stop" he continued, as the girl slowly
left the room. "You see that young
man. l forbid you to see him, to
write to him, to receive any letters
from him. He-you will know 500
enough"
"Wbat, sirI'' cried Carter, his eyes
blazing with indignation. do you say
that THAT [ took the checkp Why,
it was an impossibllity. w if L had
wished to do s ca a Il Ig."
"Leave my house, STRIP was the old
mans reply, as he reseated himself in
his chair. He had by this time per-
suaded himself that in some ~unguarded
moment he had left his key in the safe,
that Carter had taken an impression OF
1t and had a false key made, and that
he had got some clever forger to imi-
tate the firms signature. But he knew
that no one would believe him, that
ap earances were all against him, and
that it would be impossible for him
now even to earn his bread. He looked
upon Carter as the nan who had ruined
him, and in his misery and his unrea-
sonableness he fancied that One of the
young mans objects was to throw sus.
piclon upon him, to reduce him to pow
erty, and make it impossible for him to
refuse to accept him as Annie's hus-
band. But III this the old man deter
mined he would never yield.
Carter protested ono more against
the injustice of the cashiers suspicious,
and then left the room. AT the street
door he met Annie, who was waiting
for him.
"Oh, Robert" she exclaimed in a
low voice, tell me what has happened.
Somebody at the office has forged a
check for three thousand pounds and
more" he replied. 1T had been taken
from your fathers book, and-and-he
fancies | took i'll, who had nothing
to do with his safe whatever"
And do they imagine it was"
Robert was silent.
"And you came here to say you didn't
believe lt2 Oh, how good of youP'
But he thinks | am the thief. You
don't, Annie2"
"NO, Robert; | am very sure of that.
Only l can't see you so long as my
father"
Roberts only answer to this was a
sigh, and with a hurried good-by the
lovers departed.
Weeks and months went by, and the
mystery of the forged check remained
unsolved. Mr.. Livesey insisted that
the firm should bear the loss of the
E3, 900, which Mr.. Mason thought the
| bank ought to repay, as they were
legally responsible for the money.
mo" said the old gentleman, ''they
may be legally responsible, but don't
see that they ought to suffer. The
check was IN ou hands, and we allowed
a thief to get hold of it. The bank did
all they could. The forged signature
was so like yours that no one could tell
the difference; and the bank cashier
tells me that the mar who cashed it
showed him letters addressed to HIM
self as Joseph Beckman,' 1.-THE nam on
the cheeky, and showed him his card,
saying that he was a solicitor. OF
course he wasn't. The thing has been
most ~cleverly planned, and l am quite
at a loss to think who put that poor
fellow Crump up to it; but it seems to
me we can't let the bank suffer. We
could not afford to let it be known that
we had done so. No other bank would
keep Il account"
OF course o Walter Crump could
not find another situation, though he
would have been glad to take the low
est place in an office. The wolf came
to his door in earnest. Annie, who
had a;situation in a boarding school, was
the chief support of the family; and the
poor girl Was pale and thin from long
hours and scanty meals.
1t was about five months after the
day when the cashier was dismissed in
disgrace that one day Mr.. Mason left
his office at half-past one, his usual
hour for going out to lunch. Half-past
one was also the time when it was Rob-
ert Carter's turn to go out for half an
hour; and MI. Mason had hardly time
to reach the street when the young
man left his desk, went into Mr.. Ma
sons room, entered a small closet in
which a wash hand basin was fitted up,
and proceeded to wash his hands. This
was a high -misdemeanor, especially AS
accommodation was provided for clerks
I'm another part of the building, but Mr..
Robert Carter preferred Mr.. Mason's
closet, and always used it when he had
a chance of doing so.
On this occasion, however, ne had
barely begun his ablutlons when he
heard the outer door of the office slam,
and then he heard some one, whom he
judged to be his employer, COME into
the Don
Fortunately the door of the closet
was nearly closed, sc that the young
man was invisible to any II in the
center of the room.
"He has only come back for his UNI
brella," said Robert TO himself; There
is no need for my moving. II l Keep
quiet he will be gone in a minute. Mol
Some one else has come In with him.
What shall | do2"
Mr.. Mason had already closed the