The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-09-01

suspected to be the real criminal, TO com
and gloat over his misery?
But before he could speak Carter ha
come into the room and held out hi
hand.
. came TO tell you, Mr. Crump," SAT-
he, . How sorry we all are in the otlic
about this. None of ms believe that vol
had anything TO do with il. of course. |
viii all come out, likely, in n day or two.
The old man stared at him for a min
ute or two without speaking, and withou
4 taking Carriers hand.
! g Begone, sirp' he cried at last. = How
dare you come here to insult me Will
your sympathy? You, fancy you ar
the one who knows most about it,
Annie turned from one to the othe
with bewildered, terrified looks Fortu
nafely she was the only other one Of the
family in the room.
What is it, father?" she cried, claspins
her hands. What is it you say Robert
knows more about than any one else
Oh, tell me what has happened
Go to your room, GIRL said her ia
/ ther, sternly. There is trouble enough
without your meddling in it, Stop b,
continied, as the girl slowly left the
room. "You see that young man?
| forbid you to see him, to write to him, tc
receive any letters fhom him. He-you
will soon know enough"
What, sir" cried Carter, his ewes
| blazing with indignation. "Do you say
| that I-that | took the check? Why, il
was an inpossibility, even if had wish
ed to do such thing
Leave my house, sir" was the old
mans reply, as he re-seated himself in
his chair. He had by this time persuad-
ed himself that in some unguarded mo-
ment he had left his key in the safe, that
Carter had taken an impression of it and
had a false key made, and that he had got
some forger to initiate the firms sig
nature But he knew that no one would
believe him that appearances were all
against him; and that it would be i'm
possible for him now even to earn his
bread He looked upon Carter as the
man who had ruined him, and in his
misery and unreasonableness, he fancied
that one of the young mans objects was
To throw suspicion upon him, to reduce
him To poverty and make it impossible
for him to refuse to accept him as An
MES husband But in this the old man
determined he would never yield
Carter protested once more against the
injustice of the cashiers suspicion, and
left the room. At the street door
he met Annie. who was waiting for HIM
"Oh, Robert" she exclaimed in low
voice, " tell me what has happened
=" Somebody at the office has forged a
check for 5000 and more he replied.
" 1t has been taken from your fathers
book, and-snd-he fancied took it,
|. who had nothing TO do with his safe
whatever
g And DO they imagine If was"
Robert was silent.
And you came here to say you did
not believe it2 Oh, how good of YOU
But he thinks am the thief You
don't Annie?''
No, Robert; am very sure of that.
Only, | can't see you so long as my fa-
ther-r
Roberts only answer to this was a
sigh, and with hurried goodbye the
lovers parted.
Weeks and months went by, and the
mystery of the forged check remained
unsolyed. Mr.. Livesey insisted that the
firm should bear the loss of eS,O00, which
Mr.. Mason thought the bank ought to
repay, as they were legally responsible
for the money.
No, said the old gentleman, they
may be legally responsible, but | don't
see that they ought TO suffer. The check
itself was in our hands, and we allowed
a thief To get hold of it. The bank did
all they could. The forged signature is
80 like yours that no one could tell the
difference and the bank cashier tells
me that the man who cashed it showed
him letters addressed to himself as JOS
h. 4
and showed him his card saving that he
was a solicitor. OF course he wasn't.
The thing had been most cleyerly plan
ned, and | 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 we had done 50. No other bank
would keep our account
ofcourse poor Walter Crnmp could not
find another situation, though he would
have been glad to take the lowest place
in an office. The wolf came to his door
in earnest Annie who had situation
in boarding school, was the chief sup
port 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 dis
grace 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 Robert Car
ter's turn TO 60 out for half an hour; and
Mr.. Mason had hardly had time To reach
the street when the young man left his
desk, went into Mr.. Mason's room, en-
tered a small closet in which the wash
hand l,as-n was fitted up and proceeded
to wash his hands. This was a high mis-
demeanor, especially as AN accommoda-
ton WAS provided for clerks III another
part of the building, but Robert Carter
preferred Mr. Mason's closet, and ALWAYS
used it when he had chance Of doing
80.
On this occasion however, he had bare
IL begun his ablutions when he heari
the outer door of the office slam, and
then he heard some one, whom he judg-
ed to be his employer, come into the
room.
Fortunately the door of the closet WAS
nearly closed 10 that the Young man WIS