The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1893-06-08

beheid my Visitor OF the preceding an
urday night. Her pale, sad face wa
even paler and sadder than before, ant
Thought there were tears In her eve,
and traces Of many that had preceded
them. But perhaps this was owing t.
the smoke now pouring from the mas,
OF paper and wet wood with which Tom
Is usual. greeted my arrival.
81 am sorry to tell you. sir" she said
after answering my salutation, ..thal
the coin You gave me was bad one."
A bad one-my beautiful half eagle a
counterfeit In what of earth can con.
fidence then be placed1 took it in my
hand; 1t certainly had every appearance
Of being genuine.
Positively, you must be mistaken,
my dear. l could not be deceived 40
easily" And feeling that undoubtedl,
appeared to her as a gentleman, whom
the daily inspection OF unlimited gold
coin had made perfect Sir Oracle upon
the subject, drew myself up before the
fire
As who should say,
Let no dog bark"
Her lip quivered as she replied:
Indeed. sir. | am very, very sorry.
but 1t must be SO. for-for you know !
had no other but that"
And pray how did You learn it to be
. counterfeit"
when | left here, sir, went directly
up toto a place where some Of our
things were; | went to pay the little
sum we had borrowed on them when
my mother was taken sick, and the man
took the half eagle and said it was o
counterfeit and gave it back to me-"
Nonsense, child, the man was mis-
taken"
She did not argue the point, but made
brief apology for the trouble she had
given me, and hesitated.
81 trust" said l. still somewhat gran
eloquent and condescending. as a man
whose resources have unjustly been sus-
pected, that the fellows stupidity has
caused you no inconvenience"
A bright hectic flush crossed her pale
cheek as an instructive denial rose to her
lips. Farther than that the falsehood
could not come; her head sunk between
her hands, and the poor girl, weak and
cold and starving. as afterward knew,
sobbed violently.
Little by little learned her sad story.
1t need not be repeated here; it lacks,
alas, the charm Of novelty. Years OF
still deepening poverty, and yesterday,
when Mrs. Quidam and | were grum-
bling at our leg of cold mutton this poor
child and her sick mother passed the
long cold day without food or fire, even
the warm clothes and bedding, which
this money was to have redeemed from
the pawnbroker's, denied to their shiv.
ering limbs.
Iput on my hat and stepped over to
Billions to get change for the half
eagle. The clerk threw it carelessly on
o balance, and had already handed me
the change, when he saw that the deli
cate arm after vibrating little did not
decline with the weight. He took it up
and handed 1t to the head of the firm,
and after short consultation between
them was asked into the inner office.
A chemical test soon proved the worth
less character of the coin. Bullion asked
me if knew where had received it.
Certainly"
81 have seen two or three of late pre-
cisely like it. The counterfeit is a
dextrous one, and we have in vain tried
to trace its origin. II you can assist us
in this it will be great service to the
community"
l took up the deceptive coin and scru-
tinized it curiously. The workmanship
was perfect; the thought at once flashed
across my mind, too perfect; where was
the knife mark myself had made?
could not be deceived-rthe coin had
certainly been changed. And this was
the end q all my fine sentiment about
the interesting young girl!
In few words l communicated the
circumstances connected with it to Mr..
Bullion, who jumped at once to the con-
clusion.
II thought 3d." said he, 81 thought
80! knew that some fresh and unsus-
pected parties must be made use Of in
this business. The old hands we know
too we'll" he added with chuckle.
1t was soon agreed between us that
concluded on Sirth Pdge.)