Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-05
when other lips and other duns
Their tale of woe shall tell,
OF notes In bank, without the funds.
And cottnu ha rd ~ SeIl---r

OF notes in bank. without the funds.
And cotton hard TO sell"
Hard to SELF" he repeated. "Bless you,
everybody is selling today!'
1t was not much more than q stones
throw to the Office, yet on the way he was
stopped twice by the professional tipsters
These gentlemen, in common with the pub
lie, were out in unusual numbers; their APP
pearance varied-from the neatly dressed,
sharp-eyed touter to the reduced codger
who exploited his advice and expounded his
wisdom in some subterranean saloon. All
were double-loaded with knowledge primed
from the fountain-head. Some great man
had tipped them the wink and they were
but passing it on.
When they stopped Tim Taplin they were
searching for another mythical wink. Tim
represented Richard Strong; he was that
gentleman's wink In proxy. But Taplin
waved them imperiously aside; he had GER
tain well-ffxed ideas about what was due
his own dignity. and believed In holding
these eavesdroppers and professional
mouthpieces at a safe and reasonable dis
lance. Richard Strong's chief clerk was
man of neutrality-suspicious.
The gesture. nevertheless, was sufficient
unto itself for the eager newSmongers. They
interpreted 1T in the light of their vivid
aginations and were prepared to breathe
what they had learned % in mysterious
whispers and vague innuendoes. From the
significant movement of Tins arm to the
lurid reports that soon We're going the
round of the circle represented a flight
of fancy calculated to make the most
inventive poet fertile writer Of
romances turn green with envy They had
Richard Strong dead and alive; in Sara
toga and New York: buying and selling;
long and short; short and long-to all of
which they found ready and willing lis
teners,
AS Tim presented himself before his en-
ployer that gentleman looked up from his
desk and his papers,
ID B. and G. is three points lower. SIR
said the clerk. fundamentally.
Mr. Strong thought moment and then
handed Tim several slips OF paper.
Caution the brokers TO buy very dis
creetly,'' he said. and only at the figures
given
THE worst was at the opening. sir
Let the auditors have access to every
book offering no response to Mr.. Tap
Inns comment. "All the vouchers; the ex-
pense accounts: everything pertaining TO
1.-THE construction company! II there Is any
thing they don't understand In d. B. and
G. send them to me-.
They have three men at 1t now, sir.
and''-with a certain clerical pride-'so far,
have found all the books and accounts in
ship-shape order
Richard Strong was about to take the
public unreservedly into his confidence. He
had determined that the report of an audit
ing firm of unquestioned reliability and
standing should constitute his answer to
the charges preferred of gross Irregularities
and pillaging in the affairs of d. b. and C.
Meanwhile he made no plea; silence was
stronger than defense not fully fortified
with facts and figures.
The rest of the list holds up?" he asked.
About where II was. SIR said Tim, as
he left the room to carry out the orders
he had received.
His employer returned to his work. He
was considering with close attention such
information as he had obtained of the
bank situation and the probable position OF
that prop of all INSTRUMENTATION a
soft masculine voice. Just without, caused
him to glance toward the door. The head
clerk, in going out. had left 1t slightly
ajar. Richard Strong arose and moved
toward the threshold, intending to close the
door Then he stopped; something In the
voice made him pause. Where had he
heard 1t before?
Mr.. Strong has returned home, you sayf
I m lst see him at once"
II, II so very important, str?" returned
one of the clerks doubtingly.
Very important my good mani
Now the listener remembered and placed
the unruffled tones. Straightway consider
alton of possible bank reserves and losses
vanished from his mind
Mr.. Strong left word again began the
clerk In mild expostulation.
But that would not apply TO me! III
walk right IN.
And suiting the action to the word. a
gentleman in black entered the private
office. With his round face wreathed In a
smile he came to a sudden stop upon en-
countering Richard Strong near the door.
but In moment recovered himself.
My dear Mr.. Strong! This Is an unex-
pected pleasure"
The powerful hand of the other closed
mechanically upon the soft one of his
caller, Did he grip 1t half savagely? The
Reverend Doctor Clement WINGED. but In
Z moment the smiles returned. The rec
tor of Mrs. Rossiter's church was nothing
If not debonair. He did not believe that a
Christian should of necessity be hypo-
ehondriac. II he was pacific and palliative
xt~..<
away from 1t. His was the allegresse of
the ecclesiastical essence: with q cheering