Middletown transcript., 1891-09-17

dwelt on the suoJecG SO long Inat Its
action had become mechanical, and
the recital of his troubles flowed from
him with as little spontaneity, and
with much the same dull suggestion
of main. as the opening of Paradise
Lost" from a school-boy. Miss Bloom
could not but help recognize the hope
lessness of the man before her. But
she tried to answer cheerfully:
{" We can't tell what time may do,
Norman
Do what she could, the brave little
woman could not keep the tears out
Of her ewes. Sympathetically she
looked at the world through the mans
ewes and it seemed hard, forlorn, joy
less The little fabric of their lives
seemed about to be crushed in a pitt
less necessity. She raised her face
with fearful eyes and put her hands
instinctiveiy on the young mans
shoulders
II don't feel as if I had any right
to kiss you, Garry, said he.
az cave you the right when I
promised to marry you but you are
the best Judge Of that. Men have
wanted to kiss me when they hadn't
anv right" said she, drawing away
from him with touch of resentment.
Even poor Norman Downer, brok-
en- in spirit as he was, could not resist
this.
Then she whispered tremulously,
"I've got sixty dollars, Norman, that
you can have to help make up what
you want"
She moved as if to go into the
other room, but the druggist stopped
her with more decision of manner
than could have been expected III
him.
"No; no; l cannot take money
from you-least of all to pay my
| debts. You are the very one that |
| could not take it from. Besides, all
your money !-oh, no! not if you had
! a thousand dollars clear" He shook
his head with a vigor that seemed to
transform him.
"Why. Norman" said the girl,
"who could you take it from rather
than from me? 1 shan't want it be-
fore next winter, and | wish you
would take it."
You've got yourself and your
mother to take care of, and | will
never be a burden on a woman. You
have done me mighty sight of good
by offering it-more'n hundred dol
lars worth. If the worst comes to the
worst, I'll go out west and find some
thing to do"
He was so evidently in earnest that
the girl did not attempt to renew her
offer, and Downer, again saying that
he would 60 to Middletowu next day
and collect what he could, crossed che
street with much frmer tread than
before, and entered his store to wait
for such customers as chance might
send him.
Silas Van Duser's idea uf an "early
start was SO primitive that he drove
out of Jigtown at three o'clock in the
morning, and thus Ii it it happened that
Norman Downer's letter to his New
York creditors was posted in the
county town at eight, and at four
o'clock of the same afternoon formed
one of n neatly tied package on the
desk of Mr.. William Froud, manag-
ing partner of the great wholesale
drug house of Herbert and Froud, to
which the debt which had caused so
much uneasiness in Jigtown was due.
He read them rapidly and laid them
in separate boxes, with few penciled
words on the back of each. When he
came to the one in which Downer with
needless frankness confessed his utter
inability to pay his bill, he frowned
slightly. "' Act of bankruptcy
What does the fool mean by that p?
This letter is enough to jug him. He
called sharply to the ofice-boy in the
outer.room, Robert, tell Mr.. Blood
that l wish to see him at once )" then
to the book-keeper, Make out N.
Downer's bill as quickly as you can,
and charge the amount over to profit
and loss"
The man sent for came running up
the stairs from the basement, where
he had been checking off an invoice
of bottles. He hastily brushed some
straws from his sleeve and, on enter
ing the room, assumed at once an air
of alert attention tempered with res
pect.
Henry" said the manager, that
rascal Downer is trying to beat US out
of his bill. You will have to 20 to |
Jigtown and get what you can out of |
the wreck, if it isn't more than enough |
to pay travelling-expenses. You |
mustn't let the rest of the creditors get |
ahead Of US, if we are not too late al
ready. You can take the six o'clock |
express, and reach the county town
tonight in time to find out whether
any assignment has been filed, and be
on hand with an attachment early to-
morrow morning. Nab everything
there is in sight. I'll go right down
to the lawyers office and swear to the
papers and have them sent to you at
the Barclay street station. Get what
money you want from John, and have
him telephone to Al Wall that Ill be
there in ten minutes, and one of the
firm must be in the office"
Saying this, the manager jumped
up, caught his hat, and walked brisk
ly down the store, putting on his over.
coat as he went. In few moments
he was rolling down town on the ele-
waited road /; and two hours later,
Blood, seated in a railroad car Just
moving out of Jersey City, was en-
deavoring to read paper courteously
addressed to "any constable or sheriff
of the state of New York, greeting"
and containing, in vast labyrinth of