The Winslow mail., 1901-02-07

look of agony pass over her features
az she instinctively pressed her hand to
her heart. | knew then that the let
ter contained some important revela-
ton, and 1 became anxious to obtain
possession of it. When she had done,
could see that she was laboring under
a strong emotion; but she controlled
herself, replaced the letter in it's en-
velope and said, merely: This does
not tell me my husbands whereabouts;
but I shall doubtless have further news
of him in the course of few days [
saw that she was attempting to shield
him in the suppOsition that he was still
alive. | therefore broke the news of
his death to her as gently as I could.
The first shock seemed to utterly un-
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"
SIT is postmarked at the general post
office at five O'clock" said Sturgis; sit
was therefore mailed before or during
Chathams visit to the bank. 1t may
have been mailed by Arbogast before
the scrubbing was done, or perhaps by
the chorewoman when she left the
bank"
The reporter drew the letter from it's
envelope and read:
"The Knickerbocker Bank,
New York. Dec. 81, 1896.
'My Darling Wife: When you receive
this letter l shall be far away-a disgraced
criminal-and you will be worse than a
widow
81 dare not ask your forgiveness for the
trouble 1 am bringing upon you; for l
realize all too clearly the extent of the
wrong have done you. But feel irresist-
IDLY 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 meas
ure, the temptation to which have sue
cumbed; although l find it hard myself,
now that all is over, to realize how L came
to yield to it.
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 caller was announced. was Obliged
to leave our guests in order to receive MN
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 serious
error in my books-one that had enabled
a depositor to oVerdraW his account by
loT |
lieve him. although he submitted copies
from the books showing exactly how the
blunder had been made. When he lntlmated
that it only rested with me whether the
error should be reported to the bank,
Indignantly refused to listen to him. He
remained perfectly unruft1ed 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 presl-
dent.
MY first step on reaching the bank
the next day was to verify Chatham SState-
ments. Alas they were only too true. Ihere
was the terrible blunder staring me in the
face. 1 could not understand how had
come to make it; but there it was, and
nothing could explain it away. had hoped
against hope up to this time; now L saw
clearly that 1 was ruined man.
There was only one honorable course
open to me--to frankly confess my respon-
sibiity for the blunder and take the con-
sequences, whatever they might be. l
hesitated, and L was lost.
81 hesitated because 1 felt that my posi-
ton was at stake. Would not my error
appear inexcusable to the officers of the
bank, since 1 could find no palliation for it
III my own eyes? 1 was 90 years old. l
shrank from the necessity of beginning
again at the foot of the ladder which
had SO laboriously climbed after lifetime
of mt n1OddinO If would he
no easy matter for me to find another po-
Sition.
THE more I thought the matter over, the
more became convinced that there might
be another way out of my trouble. Was
it not probable that the depOstOr who had
profited by my mistake had done so innO-
Gently? If so, would he not be willing to
repay the amount Overdrawn? At the
worst if he should refuse to do this, might
it not be possible for me to scrape together
and borrow enough to make good the de-
fciency? In this way l could correct the
blunder and no one would be the wiser for
it. But what of that man Chatham? Would
not his report betray me? l recalled his
intimation that the nature of his report
depended upon myself. What did he mean
by that? Probably he would set a price
upon his silence. This would add consid-
erably to the amount l should have to
raise; but would not this be better, after all,
than the loss of my position? At any rate
| should not be any the worse off for lis
tening to his proposal, whatever it might
be.
ITO Be Continued
Every square mile of sea is estimated