The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-12-25
/ 4 NARROW ESCAPE.
3 B By Barry Pain.
By Barry Pain.

.Don't speak so loudly" said the
OUNCE Of the two men.
The man with the gray hair and
pray face looked round anxiously. II
wasn't, was II" i,
Consider where we are. Don't
whisper either. And if I might give a
word Of advice I shouldn't let myself
ret excitedf 1 were you. It's not good
for you. You're trembling all over
now. Take a pull at your glass, and
you'll be all right. Now then"
The old man drank and wiped his
mouth carefully: with q colored hand
kerchief. 1T isn't ever as If it had
been my fault" he said, almost whim-
pering. II was coming down the steps
as he was coming up. He suddenly
lurched of, avoiding somebody else,
and ran into me. Then he said it.
why the deuce don't you look where
you're goingY' he said. 60 to the dew
IL, you clumsy lout!' he said. That's 20
years service. Twenty years I've been
their trusted servant. and then to be
spoken to like a dog. Oh, I shall never
get over it."
"And that was when it first occurred
to you?"
..The first and only time. I'd got
12,O73. gold and notes, in my bag at the
moment. Yes, l could have made him
pay dear for that insult. Suppose !
hadn't gone to Lombard street with the
cash at all. Suppose l had just gone. of
somewhere
"Sssh!"
The old man lowered his voice again.
what ] mean to say is that there was
plenty in that bag to keep me In com
fort the few years I've got left. Though
l may last a good bit yet in spite Of the
DOCTORS"
What's the good Of talking about it?
You didn't do it. You went your usual
round. paid the money in same as usu-
al and put up with your treatment.
You haven't got the courage Of your
opinions. You'll always put up with
anything"
''Oh. no. l won't! Perhaps I've got
as much courage as some younger men.
Once l can reconcile a thing to my
judgment and conscience you'd find
take a bit Of stopping. If didn't like
that what I've been speaking OF. may
find something else that | do. I've
been used to civil treatment all my life.
and I'm not going to tolerate insults
nov that l am old"
IF you'd done what you first intend
ed. l don't deny that you'd have hit
him a nasty one. But there's nothing
else you can do. Suppose you started
to give him a bit of cheek. You'd be
thrown out Of his Office before you
were half way through, and bang
would go your pension. Suppose you
went to him and said you wanted to
leave owing to the way you've been
treated. There again he saves the pen
sion. 1t may be difficult, as you say.
to find a. man whom youScan trust with
large sums. but It's not impossible.
You'd have pleased him a good deal
more than you would have punished
him. No: there's only one way to give
him a good slap in the face. and you
lighted on that first time"
II never took so much as a pin from
anybody in my life"
"Of course you didn't. Do you think
/ don't know you well enough not to
talk about stealing to you? There's no
question Of that. Twenty years you've
been with them and underpaid the
whole time. as you've often told me.
That might be put right. Then there's
the pension. There's no reason why
you should sacrifice that. What you've
a just claim to you'd take and no
more"
'They wouldn't understand it that
way"
"You could write them a letter ex.
planning. If l were treated like a dog
I'd show them l could bite like n too
But here. you're not drinking. Same
again. miss. please"
"You couldn't have anything much
simpler said the young man a little
later. ut will be June 10. won't it?"
IF l do it"
There's next to nothing for you to
do, Tarrant. l shall be waiting for you
IN the cab at the corner. You've only
got to step, in, and after that all the ar.
rangements will be in my hands. I'll
have you the other side Of the channel
before Lampson and Bird know that
their moneys gone"
"And you agree to return to them
anything which may be left over after
I've taken what / am really entitled
to-"
The younger man suppressed a smile
.'Certainly." he said. "You can do that
when you write to them to explain
After all, you're only giving them q
punishment that they deserve. People
who use beastly and insulting Language
to q man who has been their trusted
servant for 20 years want a lesson
You are going to show them that you
can hit back"