The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1896-11-12
BANKER BENSON'S DOUBLE.

The greatest stroke of luck which ever
peIell me IN the course of my eventful
ana IN some respects not unbrilliant ca
reer was my extraordinary resemblance
IN lace and figure to Mr.. Benson, mana
ger OF the T1nford branch of the London
and Tinford Bank.
Ted was waiting for me at the lodg-
ings he had taken in a small street near
the river.
''Iialloa, mate he cried when / en-
tered, what's up? You look happy
Happy l echoed. Look here, Ted,
I've just hit upon what may turn out
the most splendid bit of luck we've ever
CHANGED upon, old pal" And then |
told him as briefly as possible of my
meeting in the train with the manager
OF the bank, who was as like me as one
penny to another
For moment he seemed astonished,
and then said slowly:
We'll, supposing there is this wonder
1ul likeness between you and him; how
is it going to help us?'
Ted l said, you're a FOOL
He moved uneasily
Chuck that" he cried "and come to
business. It's one to tell me I'm a fool
and another to show this resemblance
is going to bring business"
You're not as cute as I thought Won.
iau, 1 remarked. Don't you see my
drift! What should you say if I told
you that one Of these fine mornings I
meant to take the managers place in
the bank parlor and to play the very
deuce with the banks transactions ?'
He still looked at me obviously.
can't see," he said, pursuing his lips,
what good you can do at that game.
You're as ignorant of the banks busi-
ness as a kid"
Just So" I replied, "but I don't in
tend to be always in that condition
NOW, listen to my plan. l want you to
make friends in your quiet way with one
or two OF the subordinate bank officials.
FIND out when they are sending a large
consignment of bullion somewhere.
linen l shall make my move. I shall
take the managers place. ask for the de-
livery note Of the stuff, tell the clerk that
L have been instructed from headquar-
ters to have it forwarded to another
destination and finally give him place
we will arrange between ourselves as
the address to which the bullion is to
co.
He began to look more cheerful.
Not bad idea" he said sulkily; "but
it will take lot of doing"
Left alone, I went to my bag and pro-
ceeded to make UP. 1 may say without
vanity that l have some ability in this
branch of the acto1is profession, and
very soon / had transformed myself
from dark compleXioned young citizen
Of 80 to a notwithstanding citizen of.
say ~ years or more. So complete was
the disguise that Ted, coming in two
hours later, started.
BEG pardon, SIR" he cried; what
can 1 do for you?"
I'm the Queens name I arrest YOU.
Edward Marsden," I cried, assuming
the manner of detective
He turned very white Evidently he
thought his time had come at last.
Seeing his distress, 1 trew off the wig
and other DISCUSSES and cried:
Buck up. old man; the Queen doesn't
want you just yet
He tried to laugh, but + could see that
he was trembling like leaf. But it
gratified me to think how completely
my makeup" had imposed upon him.
for now / had nothing to fear when I
made my call on the manager
We'll, what luck?" 1 asked my mate
when he had recovered from the shock
1 had given him.
Not much, but something to go on
with" he made reply. 81 watched one or
two of the bank chaps go into the little
bar opposite the bank, and, of course /
followed them in. One of them seemed
soft sort of fellow, and I at once made
UP. to him by asking if he could tell me
what had won the Chester Cup. He
told me at once, and as he seemed to be
bit of sport I got talking on race
matters. asking him for tips and so on.
He appeared fiattered by my reliance
on what he said, and we had various
WHISTLES together. l didn't breathe a
word to him about the bank, of course.
That'n come later. Now, I have ar
ranged to meet him at billiard saloon
tonight, where by filing him with
whisky and getting on the right side of
him may, perhaps, be able to get hold
of something worth knowing
"A very good start, indeed" I COM
mented. Il couldn't have done the
thing better myself"
At II o'clock the next morning T was
ushered into Mr.. Benson's room in the
bank. He rose courteously to greet me.
Good morning, SIR" he said, br.iskly.
What can / have the pleasure of doing
for your
| at once confided to him some ina gil
nary details of an account which T
wished to open with the bank l forget
now what I said, for was intent all the
time on watching him closely, so as to
be able to initiate any little peculiarities
of expression or manner he possessed
when the time came
| noticed that he wore in his coat an
orchid.
/ made mental note that I. too. would
decorate myself in this fashion. Then.
again, he appeared somewhat deaf, and
had manner of putting his hand ON
his ear when listening to you. This. too.
l carefully noted for reproduction.
In the course of our interview he rang
several times for the young man who
appeared to be his confidential clerk.
This mans name was Mostyn. Fearing
that with SO many details to remember
I might forget so slight a thing as a
name, I made note of Mr.. Mostvn's on
my shirt cuff.
At length / had got together a nice
little collection of data. and I accord
ingly took my leave. The interview had
been a great success, and got all that
I wanted.
A week passed without my trusty
mate eliciting anything Of value from
the sportive youth whose acquaintance
he bod made o. hc. 4