The Portland daily press., 1900-07-19
WORLDS WAY
A Story of a Defaulter Who Was
GuiItless.

Allan Wentworth had been cashier Of
the leading bank Of San Francisco for six
years. On his twenty-frst birthday his ia
theirs influence had placed him in that
responsible position. He had never been
obliged to angle discouragingly in un-
profitable waters, as is the common lot
of boys not born with the traditional sill
yer spoon in their mouths Allan Went
worth, Srs had fought the breakers in
the surging whirlpool of money getting
and money losing with sufficient win
nings on his side to enable him to start
his only son in the exciting game Of
finance many points ahead of contempo-
rary struggling beginners. Young Went
worth dashed right into the battle of the
business world without any preliminaries
whatever.
Six years he worked continuously and
well, with attention unfagging, eyincing
the greatest business tact, the utmost
fidelity, the most scrupulous honesty. AS
ISOLATION with older men advanced him
much beyond his years. At the age of
81 he was rightfully recognized all over
the state of California as the young Ma
! poleOn of finance, the model of every ia
theirs son, the coveted parti Of every
mothers daughter. He selected from
the social whirl Miss Sylvia Lawrence
as his life partner.
After the necessary days grudgingly al
lotted by the busy man for the honey
moon the newly made husband rushed to
his Office with the ayowed purpose Of
making up for lost time"
To him business was all absorbing. He
never left it, carried it with him always.
In his home, at his table, by his fresde,
it was the theme with which he enter
tanned his young wife, his young wife's
friends when he had time to speak to
them; it was his political law, his reli-
gious dogma, his theory of social ecOno-
my, his domestic discourse, his every
thing.
But a few months elapsed. Even while
their honeymoon was in its first quarter
clouds of such impenetrable thickness so
obscured the sky of these young people
that they must needs grope in the dark
ness of deepest sorrow and abject shame.
Allan Wentworth, the steady going, the
perfectly proper Allan Wentworth, was
a defaulter, fleeing for fear of arrest,
sneaking semblance of his old fascinating,
magnetic personality, afraid to look his
brother man in the face!
Pity only intensified the wife's love.
! Without a murmur Sylvia shared Allan's
shame. Faithfully she followed him in
his hide and seek game with the officers
of the law. She could never forget her
terror when Allan, with true bluntness,
told her of his crime nor how her heart
almost failed her when he tremblngly
told her that they must leave their home
that very night, stealthily on foot, for
the sleuthhounds of the law were al
ready on his tracks. How nervously his
hand twitched when he took hers and
his furtiye eye glanced in the darkness
as together they stepped out in the night
How with nervous energy he hurried her
along the darkest streets. How cautious
| ~ they entered the railroad station and
took a train south bound. How at mid
night they left the car at a small town
and Immediately sought refuge in a dingy
railroad hotel.
When on the morning following Went
worth's fight a note was found upon his
Office desk blazoning to the world his I'M
faithfulness, his brother officials treated
it as huge, though indiscreet, joke. 1t
was without an envelope, and had prying
eyes seen it a rumor might have been
started not at all pleasant for the institu-
ton. 1t read:
am defaulter TO the bank. have distracted
many thousands of dollars-how many only
close examination of my books will show All is
gonel ALLAN WENTWORTH.
When the usual hour for his appearance
had passed and he had not come, a mild
surprise was expressed by his associates.
! When noon arrived and he was still alb
1 sent, the surprise had become a subject Of
| anxious discussion. Such thing had not
occurred in the six years of his service
! When the messenger boy returned and
/ 4I,-4
night before and that no one knew just
when or where he had gone, the anxious
surprise became fearful wonder. Wonder
engendered suspicion. Suspicion once
! born, breathless, it lives and grows into
| belief.
The note was brought forth and exam
| ined minutely. The writer was nervous,
! but it was his Enthusiastically, most irreg-
ular, but it was there
1t was useless to try to hush the mat
! ter. The cashiers confession of guilt
/ lad been made too public for that. Soon
/ there were whispers that dare not be
! spoken. Then rumors that would not
down began to float in the air, first softly
and vaguely, then louder and yet louder
they were agitated in tones Of holder as
sertions, until the bank was gradually
thrown into CONSERVATION The presi-
dent called a meeting of the directors.
'Well, / can scarcely believe my own
eyes" he said as he finished reading
| Wentworth's note to them. '"There is
enc thing sure" he added with bated
hreath-"if Allan Wentworth has de-
faulted, it must be for enough to close
these doors. He would never do any
thing small-no, not even a small theft"
Experts were put upon the books at
once and private detectives engaged to
trace the whereabouts Of the fugitive.
Haven't you noticed how queerly
Wentworth has been acting lately?" ask
| ed the teller Of the accountant.
"Yes; no one could help noticing the
change. He lost all his usual frankness.
His eyes for a month haven't looked an
honest man in the face, not even when
he talked. A bad sign, my friend--a bad