The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-05-21

only, 4 cant see you SO long as my
father
Roberts only answer to this was a
sigh, and with a hurried good-by the
lovers parted.
Weeks and months wentby, and the
mystery of the forged check remained
unsolved. Mr.. Livesey insisted that
thefirm should bear the loss of the 3d.
900, which Mr.. Mason thought the
bank ought to repay. as they were le-
gally responsible for the money.
"No," said the oldgentleman, "they
may be legally responsible, but !
don't see that they ought to suf-
fer. 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 SO
like yours that no one could tell the
difference; and the bank cashier tells
me that the man who cashed it show
ed him letters addressed to himself as
Joseph Beckman' 1.-THE name on the
check, and showed him his card. say
ing that he was a solicitor. OF
course he wasn't. The thing has
been most ~cleverly planned, 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 so. No other
bank would keep our account"
OF course poor Walter Crump 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 a situation in a Board
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 alter the
day when the cashier was dismissed
in disgrace that one day Mr.. Mason
left his office at half-past l, his usual
hour for going out to lunch. Half
past / was also the time when it was
Robert Carriers turn to 60 out for
halls 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, entered
a small closet In which a wash-hand
basin was fitted up, and proceeded to
wash his hands. This was ahigh mis-
demeanor, especially as accommoda-
ton was provided for clerks III an
other part of the building, but MIR.
Robert Carter preferred Mr.. Mason's
closet, and always used it when he had
a chance of doing SO.
On this occasion, however, he had
barely begun his additions when he
heard the outerdoor ofthe Office slam,
and then he heard some one, whom he
judged to be his employer, come into
the room.
"He has only come back for his UNI
brella," said Robert to himself; there
is no need for my moving. If keep
| quiet he will be gone in q minute. No.
Some one else has come in with him.
What shall do?
Mr.. Mason had already closed the
| double doors which led from his room
to the outer Office, and Carter vas
screwing up his courage to the point
of confessing his presence, when the
first words spoken by the stranger fell
upon his ear, and made him stand as
still as atstone.
"You can take your choice, as said
in my letter. Hand me over another
hundred, or I'll split. What's one
seventy-two out of three thousand? i
had all the risk, and you"
"Silence-will your" Kissed out Mi.
Mason, in an angry whisper. "Ican't
give you a hundred pounds, for /
haven't got it. But ] will give you
fifty now, and fifty next month. After
that you can split if youlike for you
shall get nc more out of me. Any
thing would be better than living as a
slave to a man like you"
Hand over the fifty, then" said
the other after q pause; and then there
was a slight rustic OF b~ank-notes.
"You had better leave the country
said NJ. Mason in a. low tone. 1.-The
bank cashier who cashed the check
might meet you in the street."
nIH take care of that replied the
stranger; and after a few more words
had passed the two men left the office.
All this time Carter had been stand
ing half paralized, first by fear of dis
covery and then by astonishment.
But he understood this much, that
this stranger was the nan who had
cashed the forged check under the
name of Beck.san; that Mr.. Mason
knew it, and SO far from denouncing
him to the police was given him
money to hold his tongue. Yes; and
more than this, the stranger was
threatening to stsplit" upon Mr.. Ma
sonl
What it could all mean Carter could
not comprehend; but he saw one thing
plainly enough. Theimportant point
was to find out who this man was,
and where he lived. In a moment
Carter ran out OF the room, seized his
I that, and rushed down stairs.
He was inst In time. Mr.. Mason