Danville intelligencer. [volume] (Danville, Pa.) 1859-1907, 1906-01-19
Kelly,
By GRACE THOMSON
Copyright, 1905, by @. II. Sutcliffe

row." he announced. I'm goin' t. earn
my own livin'." The cashier whimsi-
cally entered him upon the payroll as
Mr. Kelly" and so it had stood.
Kelly had graduated to the dignity of
long trousers and considered himself
veteran in the service of Edge & Lut-
ton when Kathleen came, a dainty, SEN
sitive little woman, fresh from business
school and yet very much unversed in
the ways Of business.
She won Kelly's heart by calling him
"AIr Kelly" and thereafter any of the
boys who dared play trick on the new
| typewriter invariably turned up at the
! office the next day with bruised lip or
| n blacllened optic. Few of them played
more than one trick, for when he was
| but six Kelly could thrash any eight
year-old youngster on the block.
Kathleen, all unmindful of his cham
We're better behaved, and told her
mother that life in business office
was not as hard as she had supposed 1t
would be. ITS so very different from
what we thought l should have to go
through with" she explained, "and the
| little Kelly boy Is just dear"
Later on, when Luton began to take
notice Of the pretty typewriter, Kath-
lacn changed her mind, but she did not
tell her mother Of the invitations to
drives and the theater. 1t was hard
enough that Mrs. Lansing should be
compelled to do without the luxuries to
which she had been accustomed during
| hcr husbands life without having to
! know that the money that procured
| their bare livelihood was earned at the
cost of keeping silent under covert in
silt
| Luton was careful not to make his
oyertures too patent, and only Kelly
| saw the little things which made Kath-
| i"rn's work so hard. She put aside his
| jrvitations with quiet dignity that
United of no argument, and Luton,
iiring mt last Of campaign Of courte-
| IS, began to find fault.
1t was he who dictated most of the
correspondence. and there We're letters
- lie copied over because of some triy-
| aI mistake. Night after night Kath-
lean had to remain copying letters, with
oily Kelly for company. And when at
| lJ st she sought the street she never
knew that only Kelly's presence saved
iar from further attention from Lut-
ion, waiting il the cafe across the way.
sac thought it merely one Of Kelly's
! little corrtesies, never suspecting that
Kelly. idlirg at the window, had seen
Luton crossing tho street and had di-
vined his intentions.
But while Kelly's presence saved her
from trouble In one way 1t increased
her burden in another, for Luton,
smarting under his rebuff, grew mere
vindictive. The firm was in a pool in
| Y. and NJ. G., and the operations We're
conducted from the Office. Somehow in
spite of caution some facts leaked out
prematurely, and the whole operation
resulted in crash from which the firm
barely escaped with whole credit.
The whole office was uneasy. That
there was a suspicion that some Of the
clerks were believed to be guilty OF
treachery was apparent, but John Edge
would not have any one discharged un-
| III his Sullt WaA pP3feui
I'VE must be careful for awhile" he
had said to Luton, when the latter
| urged Wholesale dismissals, "but if we
let every one out we could never again
command the confidence Of our EN-.
ployees."
Luton let the matter drop, but when
It was decided to make raid on Mem
| al, hn ah Qi
the exchange almost before the confer,
cnce was broken up, even the senior
partner was forced to admit that some
thing must be done.
Luton very promptly discovered that
Kathleen had access to all correspond
ence of the firm and that it must have
been she who in some manner had
gained the knowledge that had resulted
IN n gain of thousands to some one on
the outside.
Even then Edge did not want to work
on circumstantial evidence.
"Take it easy, George" he urged.
"NTatch her carefully, but do not dis
miss her" And Luton had smiled up-
der his heavy mustache. lie had an
iGea that he could kill two birds with
single stone.
THAT red headed kid seems pretty
thick with the typewriter" he said. Il
shouldn't be surprised II they worked
sether. You remember lie brought q
telegram in just as that Memphis deal
was put through"
kelly said Edge. "Why, he's a
part of the Office
IAN the same, could show YOU
Edge waved protesting hand. He
could not believe IN tho guilt Of any
Cnc in the office.
Very WELL" he said wearily, ~
l,Nve the matter to you"
That afternoon Kathleen waited aft
er closing tilia TO finish off her book.
Kelly, az usual, constituted himself her
escort. but he could not resist the temp
tation to steal across the street to get
the baseball scores.
Luton was there when he came
back. Kelly heard him before he opon-
ed the door and stood for moment IN
the hall.
$50 YOU see" Luton was saying, 81
can dismiss you, and you will leave un-
der suspicion of having betrayed your
employers. You can't get a job aftHF
that. fancy. Now you say you'll take
III the beach this c,cA.ng or III lei
you out tomolrow-you aud that brick
topped kid. Now, give me kiss and
say you'll 60"
There was a sound Of Il struggle, and
Kelly burst into the room.
"YOu quit that!' he said hotly. I'm
wise to you, all right, and you make
trouble and I'll tell on YOU
"Mr. Edge won't believe YOU" sneer
ed Luton.
Mo- but your wife will