Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-03-22

amazement and dismay, fell down at
her fathers feet and confessed that
she, she had yielded to temptat!oe and
| stolen the missing bill. She Eurriedi%
stated the miraculous chance that had
put Edmond in a position to save her,
and inferring from her fathers knowl-
edge OF the affair, that the man who
had detected the shortage had confded
to him his daughters responsibility
with a view OF screening her, besought
! him to accept the friendly overture.
II would permit no mans dishonor
for the sake Of me or NINE" he declar-
ed For what you have done, you
must pay the penalty. Your impossible
combination has actually come to pass.
AS the counter-check came to your
husband in his department, so it has
come to me in the Registers. 1t was
myself who caught the short packet
which you had signed for.
Bertha clasped her hands in thanks
giving.
Then, father, you alone know"
land one other"
"One other?" repeated Bertha
aghast Who in your department
should know besides yourself?"
MY chief" replied the old man, with
a face of adamant.
You have reported it. knowing that
your own child"
Certainly. Fraud or oversight;
yours or your brothers; 1t was not for
me to consider. l am, first of all,
servant of the State"
They went back to the Treasury,
where Edmond at once delivered his
report
Bertha found Mrs. Lawson impa-
tiently awaiting her. The Treasurer
tion Division to investigate an error in
one of the packets which Bertha had
made up. Mrs. Lawson was highly in
dignant.
Il counted the Ranchers' packet my
self said she. II am positive there
were eX~~:++.s5L hur"-od bills"
"If one is missing" Bertha
but the senior lady lnterrup,e~ her.
Missing? No, nothing is missing
at all. There is said to have been
one too many"
So many miracles had happened that
day that poor Bertha could only cape
at her in establishment. 1t was an
anomaly in arithmetic that one taken
from one hundred should leave one
hundred and one. There came anOth-
er summons to the Treasurer. Another
report had come in OF an error from
Mrs. Lawson's desk. The old lady was
almost in tears but she carried 1t of
with a show Of jocosity.
Either there must be some con-
science money knocking about, or Mrs.
Bertha Hackett brings a mascot to the
treasury" said she. rs this another
surplus thousand-dollar bill, sir?"
But this was the shortage which Ed
mond and Mr.. Loring had reported,
and it was happily met by the excess
in the other packet. So, beyond an
admonition tempered in mercy for the
manifest distress OF the girl Bertha
got into no trouble. She held stoutly
to a theory of the intervention OF
providence when discussing the matter
at home, and her husband swept ths
pious fancy away.
II reckon Providence don't supply
cheating clerks with thousand-dollar
bills" said he. You divided the pack
ct Of 100 in two of so. as you thought. |
But you counted the first backward, |
from 100 to so inclusive, and that left
only forty-nine for the second packet |
But why didn't you tell Mrs. Lawson
you made one short?"
Fact is, Edmond, that combination
chatter of ours had got into my brain.
l thought Wilton had pinched bill. |
and l reckoned to do more for my
brother than Daddy would do for his
little girl"
Hal" observed old Caleb, filling his
pipe. Duty first, family afterwards,
and roguery never at any time, under
any circumstances"
(The end.)