Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-08-11

W AOiit, anu tIiS gentleman from CHI
cago inditcd long one both Of which
would have served to surprise that
calmly superior soldier not a little had
| they reached him in due course Of mail.
'i~li, however, they did not. It was
W. VI - before he saw them at all, for
sotils ,..hpa "a thav ~sfe uplaaded from the
maiIbaes at the wntFy eantpnmgnt
Rolfe, with Berrien's natlanon' was
miles away.
Getting no reply TO his nissives and
little encouragement at the post, the
strange civilian suddenly departed after
three days apparently aimless stay, and
the next heard of him was in the shape
Of q letter from Louisville. Could Major
Kenyon procure for him anyhow, any
where, photograph of Sergeant Ellis?
No, Major Kenyon couldn't and WAS
very short in saying 50.
And now December was come, and
the air was crisp and keen in the valley
of the Pawnee, the sunshine radiant and
sparkling, but far 10 the north the win
try winds We're howling about the fiimsy
cantonment and whirling the snow
through every Granny and crack, and
the long nights on outpost and picket
were bitter cold But through it all
the various battalions of horse We're sent
scouting in turn around the reservation.
and more and more the young warriors
dribbled away from the agencies and
were next heard of welcomed with ac-
clamations BY the savage hosts in the
fastnesses Of the Bad Lands, and every
hour increased The prospect Of sharp
fighting IN the near future. But all the
letters to the anxious hearts at home
were full Of hope and cheer, full of
prophecy that everything would soon be
settled. The renegade bands were all
LOCATED" and being slowly hemmed in.
The Twelfth would eat its Christmas
dinner at PaYnee after all, they hoped.
And in St. Louis Miss Guthrie was ex-
frting herself to see that her charming
guests were having the loyeliest kind Of
a time. Dinners. luncheons, cards, thea
ters and dancing parties followed in
/ quick succession, The new gowns We're
being made as fast as famous modistes
could evolve and construct them, and
Winifred was rushed from one scene Of
gayety to another.
Nothing could have been more charm
ing than our welcome" wrote Mrs. Ber-
rien to her beloved Dick, nothing more
delightful than the round Of enteTtaiR-
ments to which we are bldden. One has
hardly time to think As for writing,
this IS the st opportunity ! have en-
joyed IN three days, and we are home
from the theater but half an hour. Mrs.
Holden comes over every day, and We
exchange such news as we have Of the
dear old regiment and the dearer ones
who are our especial property. She is
what call q genuine woman, and like
her more and more. | must tell you
/ something ! learned through her. The
day after our arrival we were in the
library, and my attention was attracted
by a large portrait, apparently crayon
copy of photograph, that hung over
the mantei. 1t was of 9 singularly
handsome young man, and ! knew at
once he must be D Guthrie. Tt is my
brother, said Nita, III such sad, con-
strained Tone .talson just d few weeks
before his death six years ago. Of
course | could ask no more, but Wini-
fred and | both noted how utterly her
face changed, how 4nsneakably dis
( tressed a look came into her eyes. We
could see then why Mrs. Holden should
have said she was haggard and i'll, and
I yesterday Mrs. Holden told me some.
thing OF his story. He was barely twen-
4 ty-two, the idol Of the family and i'm
mensely popular in society. He was as
1 sistant cashier IN one of the big banks
/ here, and one day the sudden discovery
( was made that in some mysterious way
! quite large sum was missing, money
for which he was responsible, but he
could not account for it; neither could
anybody else. Tho matter was investi-
/ gated thoroughly.
"They had detectives everywhere, and
absolutely nothing could be brought up
( against young Guthrie. He never gam
bled, never dissipated in any way, was
a model son and brother. Nita was wild
with indignation at his having been
\ even suspected. Mr.. Guthrie offered to
\ make good the sum twice over If need
be, and to bind himself for all his
wealth to establish his boys honor, and
/ for three or four days all was excite
ment, and then, in the midst Of it, poor
4 Jack was found dead In his room, d
half empty bottle of choral By his bed
side, The world said suicide, guilty CON
science, ctcetefa, but Nita and others
knew that lie had not slept a wink since
the discovery Of the loss and was crazed
/ with misery. They have always main
tanned it was an accidental overdose.
But it nearly broke Mr. Guthrie's heart,
1 and it was three years before Nita would
Y 90 into society III st. Louis again. They
went to Europe and staid there ever 50
4 long.
"What makes it seem probable that
Z he was unjustly suspected was that the
bank dismissed its cashier, Jacks most
4 intimate friend, man two or three
4 years older than himself and devoted
admirer of Nitais, It was even sup
( posed that she was engaged to him.
I He had no wealthy friends to stand up
7 for him, and Jacks death made it ap-
I pear Us though there had Been guilt;
and yet such sum could not well have
/ been made away with except by the
4 knowledge or collusion Of the cashier
himself, and though proofs were lack
ing, he was discharged the very day
( poor Jack was buried. No one knows
whatever became of him afterward, and
4 people settled down into the belief that
! this Mr.. Worden was the real thief. But
now comes the strangest part Of it all.
( The president of the bank was widow
I er who. for two years, had been a suitor
4 of Nita's, a persistent suitor, despite her
7 marked coldness and aversion. -Four
months ago rumors began to float as to
the stability Of the bank; then came a
4 run, panic; the bank had to close its
/ doors; immediate investigation into its
affairs was made, and then came the
4 discovery that the president had been a
heavy speculator and had unquestion-
ably used the funds of the bank to cover
4 his losses. They found his body in
/ the river four days afterward, floating
1 down by the old barracks, where you
and / had such happy winter twenty
4 years ago. People say now that it was
President Perciyal himself all the time,
and that he threw suspicion on young
Guthrie because he knew the father
- 4.