Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-11-22

someisha&s imp atienily;; svodnnan iss
NATURAL 81 but i could not
allow an sen / iment tai coonsid erationsto5i
stand in the way Of the discharge 81
my duty toSonr deposit tors. 81 s.=:5
hat did you learn from her3'.
asked the reporter. III IL,
81 When i reached the house the maid.
told ME, that Mrs, sArbogast had spent
the previous vening at her sisters
house in he cornt try and had not yet
come back. q was about to leave, In:
tending to return Inter III the evening. s
when the lady herself arrived. Upon
learning who was che seemed some
what surprised, but invited me in AS.
we passed into the parlor. the maid
handed her mistress q letter, stating
that it had come by the mornings
mail. Mrs. Arbogast glanced 81 the
envelope, but did not open it. AZ my !
first cautious questions ,she> seemed to
be very; much surprised. B Arbogast had
announced to her BY telegram the pre-
viousz day that he would be obliged TO
Ego ont ot town, for q few days On bust
,ness.a He allowed her to infer that Ne
would ,sosn return, and thas<his bust
ness was connected with thesaffairs of
the bank She could not understand
howit happened that knew nothing
OF this trip. But said she, 4 have Just
received . letter from him, which will
doubtlessiexplain; matters She EVIL
IDENTITY knew nothingsof her husband 8:
peculation: Thereupon. she:epsned,t the,
envelope and took out this letter. I
observed her closely. At the first
words q saw her cheeks blanch and q
look of agony pass over her features
as she instinctiely pressed her hand to
her: heart. ;, I knew then that the let
ter contained some important revela-
ton, and i became anxious to obtain
possession Of it. When she had done!I
could see that she was laboring under
q strong emotion; but she controlled
herself, replaced the letter in it's en-
velope and said, merely: This does.
not tell me my husband S whereabouts;
but I shall doubtless have further news
of him in the course of few days I
saw that she was attempting to shield
him in the superstition that he was still
alive. I therefore broke the news of
his death to her as gently as I could.
The first shock seemed to utterly I'M
nerve her; but after awhile she became
somewhat calmer. After all, it is bet
ter so,'< she said, at last. Then she
handed me this letter. There was no
further reason for withholding it. Read
it now" -.
ut is postmarked at the general post
office at five o'clock" said Sturgis; lit
was therefore mailed before or during
Chatham's visit to the bank. It may
have been mailed by Arbogast before
the scrubbing was done, or perhaps by
the chorewoman when she left the
bank" 49,. -. - -
The reporter drew the letter from it's
envelope and read:
1.-The Knickerbocker Bank,
:; New York, Dec. 81, 1896.
my Darling Wife,: When you receive
this letter Ishall be far away-a disgraced
criminal-and you will be worse than a
widow. -: -: ~ I. -
II dare not ask your forgiveness for the
trouble am bringing upon you; for I.
realize all too clearly the extent Of the
wrong have done you. But feel irresist-.
ibly impelled to lay, before you in all their
nakedness. as do before my own conscience,
the circumstances which have led to my
downfall. A knowledge Of these may per-,
haps enable you to understand. in, a meas
ure, the temptation to which have sue
cumbed: although I find 1t hard myself,
now that all is over, to realize how came
to yield to it. go & .->
Perhaps you may remember the cele-
bration Of my fiftieth anniversary. We
were having a most enjoyable evening In
the company of the friends whom you had
invited to participate in the festivities,
when callerWas announced. L was obliged
to leave our guests In order to receive him
in the library. This man lost no time in
stating the nature Of his business with me.
His name was Thomas Chatham; he was
an expert accountant, who had been en-
ployed at the Knickerbocker bank to ex-
anime the books, and he coolly informed
me that he had just discovered a serious
error in my books--one that had enabled
q rdeposit0r to 0Yerdraw his account by
q large amount. At ffrst I refused to be-
heve him, although he submitted copies
from the books showing exactly how the
blunder had been made. When he intimated
that 1t only rested with me whether the
error should be reported to the bank, I
Indignantly refused to listen to- him. He
remained perfectly unruff1ed, during our
interview and left me at last with the
statement that he would wait "a hours be-
fore handing in his report to the presi--
Il = ,E.- . .
..'My. first step on reaching the bank
thenext day was TO verify chatham state
ments. Alas! they were only too true. There
was the terrible blunder staring me in the
face. I could not understand how I had
come to make It: but there it was, and
nothing could explain it away. I had hoped
against hope up to. this time; now I saw
clearly that wds.a ruined man. sssSS@3
There was only one honorable course
open to me--to frankly confess my respon-
sibility for the blunder and take the com
| sequences, whatever they might be-. + l
hesitated, and I was lost. a.: @.s-E
II hesitated becauseI felt that my posi-
/ ton was at stake. Would not my error
! appear inexcusable to the officers of the
| bank, asinceAI could find no palliati0n for 1t
7 in my, own eyes? T was so years old. I
shrank from the necessity Of beginning
again; at the foot of the ladder which j