The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-14

greatest self repression /he kept his mind on his work.
 On first impulse, Harry would have gone to his superiors and exposed aiis | he was young. he had made himself a strong candidate for promotion; It | at any rate, as the falsification was a very clumsy attempt, to say the least. | Yet, dearer to him than his ambition | was his love for Mildred-give up her | husband he could not
 | He passed sleepless night and | morning found him at the bank before the doors were open. His face was l pale and drawn, but his step was firm l and steady. During a Hull in the busy | day, he quietly slipped from his desk \ and walked to the Presidents office. | Just as he stepped inside, Mildred | Stayton, coming from the street. | crossed to her husbands window. and reaching through the grating, tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He had been watching Harry with a terrible | fear tugging at his heart; as he Saw him calmly disappear behind the | ground glass door. the wild desire to | nee seized him, and he had to light | himself to remain in his place. As | his wife touched him, he uttered a sharp cry and turned like flash, his | face twitching.
 JACK, uedTb you re iiA' Siiou uh- dred.
 With a weak attempt to laugh, Stay ton tried to pass 1t over. Its the heat" he faitered. It was done and all over Tn a few minutes. A quiet consultation, a short talk over the telephone. and | two men entered the lobby and walk
 ed straight to the Presidents office. They came out almost immediately and hatWAnn them wa1kAd Da0Oatt l Ills step was firm and he walked | neither to the right nor to the left; 1t was so quiet and still that the foot l steps of the men sounded to the echo. As he saw Stayton standing with Mildred, the color swept to his face | and for an instant only, his step fal- tered He was suffering almost su- | preme martyrdom. and for moment | the thought angered him.
 She had turned away her head. and | was looking into her husbands face. | The worried pucker- between her brows had vanished, and from her | eyes shone all the trust and confidence ] in good woman's heart. Harry saw. | and understanding. smiled straight into stayton's working face. The formality of trial must be gone through with; Daggett asked for | speedy one and 1t was granted him. | An embezzler usually gTves the law a run for its money, and self-confessed | criminals are rare, so the trial at- tracted attention. Daggett attempted | no defense; on recommendation for | leniency by the bank officials, he was | sentenced to five years.
 Leaving the court room, he saw
 Mildred and her husband in tho corri- | dor. Fighting hard against it he felt | the blood tingling in his face, and he | pretended not to see them as he | passed. Mildred divined his shame and with little cry ran after him and caught one of his loosely hanging 1 hands in both hers.
 Harry, don't ruin your life to shield another!' she cried, with sob in her | voice. 'Tell them that you did not do 1t! Boy. know you did not do it" For a moment he feared that she nothing but solicitude in her eyes. Her confidence warmed his heart as nothing else had done and he smiled | into the pleading, upturned face. q did" he said, his voice trembling, | and unclasping her hands, he was gone.
 He had suffered a year of the living
 death, when they found Stayton Tn a cheap hotel one morning, a revolver clutched in his hand; there was one chamber empty; he had looked in vain for drink strong enough to k,ll the bangs of conscience. A closely | written sheet of paper fiuttered from the table to the floor, as they opened | the door.
 Daggett had suffered, but--well, a woman's first love is not always ,rer best.