The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1900-11-02


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IaANA You h g! better attempt
no explan1aal tlon, Ar. ha the
senior partner was saying 20 me, very
quietly. No, he went on, @ ! was
on the point OF interrupting him.,
either to excuse Of 70 incriminate;
yourself. For the sake Of your Ia
Their, who was one 81 the staunchest
and best servants the Arm ever pos
sessed, and S1or the sake Of his widow,
Mr.. Sampson and myself have deter
mined to mako his son every allow
ance. Az the matter stands, there q
balance Of 6 % unaccounte>. for, and
you are the only person who can
make It right. II the amount is
ahem! replaced BY this day fort
night, nothing more will be said.
But If not .aThen, went on Mr..
Sampson. the Junior. partner. ..the firm
viii REQUIRE your services no longer,
Mr.. Halbon. Possibly. for the sake
Of those whom Nj. Marsh has mem
toned. We shall not take any more
stringent measures: but. Of course,
euch 4 aismisxal without reason or
references. would be ruin to YOU. We
trust. therefore. that Won will be able
to rectify the mistake. Good after
noon" ~. a. "
Ruin! That was just the word for
# all. and it rang in NV ears with
terrible Significance as left the
presence of the two partners and took
nv seat ut desk in the Office outside.
For although they had not named the
word. the terrible charge that was
staring me in the face was embezzle-
ment. They had discovered it all.
Fool that had been: alas! the dup1i-
cate Of manv. Not half a dozen wears
ont of INV teens. with I berth that
manv an older man might have en-
We'd. the under-cashier in the wealthy
firm of Marsh 4 Sampson, of Silk
minister, one of the largest houses in
the Midlands. IT.
Could do it? I asked myself the
question that night in the solitude of
my lodgings. I had been invited out
to spend the evening at the house
of my fancee. Alas! I dared not face
her now. So sat alone in an agony
of anxious thought. Time after time
I counted out nv resources. The ut
| most could scrape. together was
"a shillings, and, look where I would,
could not see my way to laying my
hand on more.
The game was up: that was evident.
And out of the situation there grew
the desire, stronger ano stronger, to
get away, anywhere from Silkminster
to London, perhaps-London, with
er every fortune-hunter or fortune
loser turns his steps. At length q
definite plan took possession of me.
I had one article Of value left, my
bicycle, and determined to ride it
up to London, distance of hundred
odd miles or so, and sell it when ]
got there. More than that, made up
| nv mind to start that very night. ]
was lust in the mood, for it. wanted
to do something. and here was the
chance.
Hastily I packed a few thines IN
NV bicvcle "hold-all {" filed nv lamn
knocked at nv landladv's door. and
said: II am Going for a long ride
Mrs. Smith-to see a friend. He'll be
almost sure to ask me to stay the
night, so don't expect me till to-mor.
row evening""
And in another minute I was bowl.
ing through the suburbs of Silkmin.
ster. until the houses became more
and more scattered, the lamp-posts be-
gan to disappear, and at length wa.
out in the open country speeding
away on the road that led to London
Dullminster was now a good five
miles behind me. and I had entered
upon a stretch of road that was NOR.
than usually dreary and secluded. Or
nv right was an open expanse of com
mon, and on my left, on the top of al
embankment, the main line of tn,
Great West-Northern railway ran TO,
some two or three miles parallel with
the road, a hedge between me and the
bottom of the embankment. The mo
mentary fash of wa1ning red light
on signal-post as I began riding BIZ