Amador ledger., 1906-08-17
Timid Nancy

VelOpeS 10 pay OUT Ut UuCe uduS
closet in the shanty with a lock and
bolts so that if 1 must leave the money
there for a short time 1 could lock ii
up. In lieu of a clerk / had a slip Of
girl. Nancy O'Neil when she came
to me was only fifteen, but she was
bright, and l soon worked her in to re-
lieving me in my accounts. She was
delicate, pale faced little thing, and l
never felt it safe to leave her alone
in the office with any cash there.
One day 1 went in to find Nancy OH
chair looking frightened half out of
her senses. 1t was the old story of
woman's timidity, and there was a
mouse in the room.
Nancy" 1 said, "this won't do. I
am obliged, as you know, to keep
small sums of money in my desk, and
we've got men at work we don't know
much about. Suppose some rascal
should come in here and help himself?
I'm afraid I'll have to demand a man
assistant"
l was fully minded to do what 1
said, but Nancy begged so hard that I
promised to do ro'hing in the matter
for awhile Ions. though I was de-
termined to br.13 matter up at the
beginning of the =. when all such
changes were u-U: mace.
One Saturday $, ,fter this 1 re-
ceived the pay en- y for the week
about starting out with them when 1
received an order to go at once to the
presidents office. Meanwhile one of
the principal directors had come in to
talk over some important matter with
him, and when 1 arrived 1 was told to
wait. 1 had left the pay envelopes in
big drawer in my desk. 1 would
have put them in the closet, but had
been checking them off with Nancy,
and they were scattered over the desk,
and, not daring to keep the president
waiting, l opened the drawer, scraped
them into it, locked it and told Nancy
l would be back in a few minutes.
While 1 was waiting I thought about
the money in the desk, but nothing had
ever happened, and I didn't worry
much.
At last the president summoned me
into his private Office and told me that
they had taken up the matter of ex-
penses for the coming year, and, as the
profits were dissatisfying to the stock
holders, he had decided to retrench. A
number of the less important employ
ees were to be dropped, and 1 must get
along without Nancy. This let me out
of the responsibility Of sending her
away, so 1 said nothing and hurried
back to my office, my mind occupied
with how 1 should break the news to
her.
When L entered Nancy was looking
out of the window watching for me. 1
determined to get the unpleasant duty
off my mind at once and commenced to
tell her that her services would be no
longer needed. She tried to stop me,
but 1 raised my voice above hers and
finished what had to say. To my sur
prise she didn't seem to pay any at
tention to the matter, waiting till 1 had
told my story; then, coming near, she
whispered:
''There's d man in the closet"
"a man,
yes. He must have seen the cash
ier's clerk come in with the envelopes,
for no sooner had you gone than he
came in and told me that if 1 didn't
give them to him he'd kill me. 1 had
to make up my mind pretty quick what
I would do, for, you see, I'm only
girl, and he looked so fierce and held a
knife at my throat
"Well?" 1 interrupted impatiently.
Il knew that if l didn't do something
right Off
"Cut it short!' 1 cried fiercely. SIS
the money gomez"
81 told him that if he'd look in the
closet-I didn't want to tell a real lie,
and 1 didn't need to, for I'd only got
that far when he ran into the closet,
and 1 shut the door on him and locked
and bolted it."
+ The first thing I did was to take
glance at the envelopes; the second
was to pick Nancy up and give her
such a hug that she cried out; then l
dropped her and gave an alarm. Sew
eral persons came running in, and l
told one of them to go and tell the
president that the mems weeks pay
was in jeopardy and to come at once.
In two minutes he was there. Then,
with revolver in one hand, l opened
the closet door with the other, and a
man came Sinking out. He was one
we had taken on few weeks before
and had come on purpose to rob.
''That little girl" 1 said, pointing,
has saved the company $4,000"
How did you do it?" asked the pres
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Nancy told her story, evidently quite
surprised that she had done anything
remarkable When she had finished the
president turned away, saying:
keep him for the police. Come and
see me tomorrow morning, Nancy
When Nancy called the president Of
fered her good salary, but had fore
stalled him by giving her another if not
better job. She was to run my home
as my wife However, not to be out
DONE he turned to his desk and wrote
her check for $1,000 for a wedding
present.
now have a fighting man with me
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