Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-17


me to tell my story with any significance at
all.
81 should think 1t stood in not less than
five acres of ground. 1t was called Harton
Hall"
"You don't say so; well done, Jones!'
Mr. Aspley seemed really amused. "1ll
ask him tomorrow how they all are at the
hail."
II beg your pardon, sir,'' said, "but I
do hope you will not do that. 1t will make
him think i'll of me-"
ITO be sure, he may compare you to the
spy that discovered the land flowing with
milk and honey. And yet why should it
not flow? Jones has been 80 years with us,
put in his way. Why shouldn't he call his
house a hall if he likes?"
"Why, indeed, sir, so far as 1 am con-
cerned?' replied, dryly, for 1 was very
much chagrined at being thus treated like a
child. 1t was now quite clear to me that
no hint-short of a direct statement of my
suspicions-would have any effect upon Mr..
Apsley's mind, and was sincerely glad of
it. The pendulum of my sympathies had
swung round to Jones' side. My employ
er's manner had certainly not been encour-
aging; it was less so than ever after my last
reply.
'It is growing late and you must be tired,
Mr.. Ackers; will you have a glass of
wine?"
Ideelined the offer, as I had declined Mr..
Jones, for the hospitality of neither gen
tleman had been very pressing, and backed
out of the room.
/ felt much relieved that matters were
thus ended, but though 1 doubt whether I
should have taken my opportunity even if
it had offered itself, was conscious that the
whole affair had somehow fizzled out. If L
had denounced the manager should prob
ably by this time have been agonized by re-
morse; if had said nothing of the position
in which had found him, should have
been reproaching myself, no doubt, with
disloyalty to my employers: but now that 1
had taken the middle course, it seemed
something ridiculous. and, indeed, con-
temptble When 1 got home and found
Spriggins with his pipe, wakeful and in
quisitive, felt not the least temptation to
tell him anything about ''what old Apsley
had sent for me about" 3"
said 'it was private matter" which
made him wild with curiosity, and my re-
fusal to crafty it caused quarrel between
u.s. My expedition to Harton may have its
dramatic attractions, but from a social
point of view it certainly did not seem to
have been a success. The next morning,
when l saw our manager in his business
coat totting up his accounts as usual, 1
could hardly believe him to be the esquire
Jones' had called upon not u hours be-
fore. He made not the smallest allusion to
my visit; nor did Mr.. Apsley to the errand
on which he had sent me.
There happened to be great excitement at
the Office that morning, consequent on the
resignation of Mr.. Roberts, the third clerk,
who (ucky dogD had "come in for money"
and it whirled Spriggins away with it like
the rest. He forgot all about our last
nights quarrel and my injurious treatment
of him.
The unwonted agitation of the previous
evening had had its effects, suppose, upon
my nerves, for had splitting headache,
which grew worse and worse, and upon that
plea, which do not remember to have ever
used before, L obtained leave of absence
from nv immediate chief and went home to
bed. 1 slept for some hours, and on awak-
ing, much refresehd, found Spriggins stand
ing by my bedside.
Sorry to disturb you, old fellow" he
said, "but 1 am fairly bursting with intelli.
gence' Che meant information; the other
thing was Incredibly There's been such
a scrimmage at the office as was never heard
Of. Jones has bolted"'
'Bolted? The manager? Then he's got
away?"
"Well, yes, for the present, though I
don't think the firm will be SO gratifed
about that as you seem to be. However,
he missed his tip this time as regards the
swag-"
.'Do, for heavens sake, speak English!
What tip? What swag?"
"To be sure, you have been asleep, while
I've been talking about nothing else for the
last three hours. There are defalcations-
$50, 900, they say-extending over a long
series of years; but there would have been
910, 900 more gone-all negotiable securi-
ties-but for their opening the safe, where
they were found neatly made up to go in his
bag this very night: you remember his black
bag?"
nodded eagerly but with sinking SEN
sation too; 1 knew more about Jones than
Spriggins did; the catastrophe seemed to
have something personal as we'll as shock
ing about it. AS sat up in bed 1 saw the
room al Harton Hail. heard the clatter of
talk from the dining room; l saw the ladies
trailing their fine dresses up the stairs, and
heard once more Mrs. Jones' contemptuous
voice saying, "Oh, from the officeI''
''They found it out while he was at lunch,
and the detectives sat in his room with the
warrant for him, only he never came back.
The old fellow smelled rat, suppose.
1 think this highly probable. L think he
read something he was looking for in my
face that morning. and, coupling it with my
unusual disappearance (for he had asked
for me, it seemed), had decided as he sat
over his chop at the eating house that he had
better be off at once. To take the bag away
with him at that early hour would have
brought suspicion, if suspicion there was, to
a head Immediately. He did not dare to
risk it, and in his case the better part of
valor had certainly been discretion; for five
minutes of such Yalor would have cost him
five years penal servitude. He was never
seen again in England.
Ten days afterward or so 1 was summoned
from my desk to the partners parlor. 1t
was not generally pleasant invitation, but
rather resembled what is called at Cam
bridge being "convened;" to a guilty con-
science it meant something very serious, but |
though my conscience may be thought pc
culiar, it was not guilty one
There were four partners, whom L scarce
ly knew by sight, and Mr.. Apsley, who
completed the quorum, and was the speaker |
"Mr.' Ackers, we have sent for you to con-
gratulate you upon your conduct the other |
night with respect to our late manager |
You showed yourselfaware of what was due
to one who had held a position of trust with |
us for many years, and also to your em-
ployers' interests. You said neither more
nor less than you ought to have said. If |
nothing was wrong with him, you did him
no harm; if there was anything amiss, you
put us OH our guard. 1t was owing to you
that certain very grievous losses, in
Cured through this mans dishonesty,
and of which we had hitherto no clew,
have not been very seriously increased. 1
am instructed by the firm to thank you
(here four most respectable heads bowed to
me affably). 1t is very unusual to find so