Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-05-16

e;sd that one Of the young mans OBJ
! iects was to throw suspicion upon MN,
10 reduce him to poverty, ana MAKE !.
impossible for him to refuse TO accept
him IS Annie's husband. But In this
the old man determined be would never
yield.
Carter protested once more against
the Injustice Of the cashiers suspicious,
and then left tho room. At the street.
| door he met Annie, who was waiting
for him.
uOh. Robert" she exclaimed in a
! low voice. "tell me what has happen
| ed"
"Somebody at the Office has forged a
check for three thousand pounds and
more" be replied. at had been taken
from your fathers book, and-and-he
fsncies took i'll, who bad 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 it? Oh, how good OF
you"
"But he thinks am the thief. You
don't, Annie?"
mo, Robert | am very sure OF
that. Only, I can't see you so long as
my father"
Roberts only answer to this was
sigh, and with . hurried good-by the
lovers parted.
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
$4,000, which Mr.. Mason thought the
bank ought to repay, as they were
legally responsible for the money.
"No," said the old gentleman, 1" they
may be legally responsible, but | don't
see that they ought to suffer. The
check itself was in our hands, and we
allowed 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 showed him letters addressed to him
self as Joseph Beckman' 1.-THE name on
the cheeky, and showed him his card,
saying that he was q solicitor. OF
course he wasn't. The thing has been
most cleverly planned, and / am quite
at q 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
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 after the
day when the cashier was dismissed in
disgrace that ore day Mr.. Mason left
his office at half-past l, his usual hour
for going out to lunch. Half-past l
was also the time when it was Robert
Carter'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, entered small closet in which
wash-hand basin was fitted up, and
proceeded to wash his hands. This
was high misdemeanor, especially as
accommodation was provided for clerks
in 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, he had
barely begun his additions 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 room.
Fortunately the door Of the closet
was nearly closed, so that the young
man was invisible to any one in the CEN
tire of the room.
"He has only come back for his UNI
brella," said Robert to himself a" there
is no need for my moving. If keep
quiet he will be gone in 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 was
screwipg up his courage to the point of
confessiDg his presence when the first
words spoken by the stranger fell upon
his ear and made him stand as still as
stone.
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? |
had all the risk, and you -"
"Silence, will you?" Kissed out Mr..
Mason, in an angry whisper. Ican't
give you hundred pounds, for /
haven't got it; but l will give you fifty
now and fifty next month. After that
you can split if you like, for you
shall get no more out of me. Any
thing would be better than living as
slave to a man like you"
Hand over the fifty, them" said
the other after pause; and then there
was slight rustic of bank-notes.
"You had better leave the country"
said Mr.. Mason in q low tone. 1.-The
bank cashier who cashed the check
might meet you in the street"
"I'll take care Of that" replied the
stranger; and after few more words
had passed the two men left the office
All this time Carter had been stand
ing half paralyzed, first by fear of dis
covery and then by sstonishment. But
be understood this much, that this
stranger was the man who had cashed
the forged check under the name Of
Beckman; that Mr.. Mason knew it,
and so far from denouncing him to the
police was giving him money to hold
his tongue. Yes; and more than this
the stranger was threatening to "split"
upon Mr.. Mason!
What it could all mean Carter could
not comprehend but he saw one thing
plainly enough. The important point