The Minneapolis journal., 1906-05-17
CHAPTER I.
The Incident at the Bank.

The Incident at the Bank.
In the public room. of the Sixth Ma
tional bank at Bar Harbor in Maine,
Lieutenant Alan Drummond, H.M-S:
Consternation,' stood aside to give
precedence to a lady. The lieutenant
had visited the bank for the purpose OF
England notes into the currency OF the
country he was then visiting. The
lady did not appear to notice either his
courtesy or his presence, and this was
the more remarkable since Drummond
was young man sufficiently consplcu-
GUS even in crowd, and he and she
were, at that moment, the only custom
ers in the bank He was tail, well-knit
and stalwart, blond as a Scandinavian,
with dark blue eyes which he sometimes
said jocular1y were the eoiors OF his
university. He had been. slowly ap-
preaching the cashier Is window with
the easy movement Of man never IN a
hurry. when the girl appeared at the
door, and advanced rapidly to the bank
counter with It's brass wire screen sur.
rounding the arched aperture, behind.
which stood the cashier. Altho, very
plainly attired, her gown nevertheless
possessed charm Of simplicity that a.
most suggested complex Paris, and she
wore it with that air of distinction the
secret of which is supposed to be the
exclusive property of French and
l. American women
The young man saw nothing Of this,
and altho he appreciated the beauty of
slant was the expression of anxiety on
her face, whose apparently temporary
pallor was aecentuated by an abun-
dance of dark hair. It seemed to him
that she had resolute1y set herself
task which she was most reluctant to
. e II~o.. = ont q n.
tered the, door her large, dark eyes
were fixed almost appeaingly on the
cashier, and they beheld nothing else.
| Drummond, mentally slow as he usu-
| ally was, came to the quick conclusion
THAT this was a supreme moment IN her
life, on which, perhaps, great issues
the corner Of the ledge in front Of the
cashier with grip Of nervous tension,
as if the support thus attained was
necessary to her. Her right hand trem-
bled slightly as she passed an oblong
slip of paper thru the aperture to the
calm and Indifferent official.
this checka,' she asked in low voice.
The cashier scrutinized the document
for some time in silence. The sigma
ture appeared unfamiliar to him.
>"One moment, madam he said,
quietly, and retired to a desk in the
back part Of the bank, where he opened
huge book, turned over some leaves
page. His di1atory action seemed to
increase the young woman g panic. Her
pallor increased, and she swayed slight
ly, as if in danger of falling, but
brought her right hand to the assist
anee of the left, and 50 steadied her
counter. o"#
teBy Jovel" said the lieutenant to
himself, there's something wrong
here. T wonder what it is. Such a
pretty girl, toot"
/ The cashier behind his screen saw
nothing of this play Of the emotions.
He returned nonchalantly to his sta
tion and asked, in commonplace tones:
How viii you have the money,
madam9''
Gold, if you please, = she replied
almost in a whisper, q rosy flush chas-
ing, the whiteness from her face, while
a deep sigh marked the passing of a
| crisis.
At this iuncture an extraordinary
thing happened The cashier counted
out some golden coins and passed them
thru the aperture toward their new
| owner
3sThank you,' said the girl. Then,
without touching the money, she turned
like one hypnotized, her unseeing eyes
still taking no heed Of the big Heuten.
ant, and passed rapidly out of the bank
The cashier paid no regard to this
abandonment of treasure. He was writ
ing some hieroglyphics on the cashed
check.
"By Jove!' gasped the lieutenant
aloud, springing forward as he spoke
sweeping the coins into his hand and
bolting for the door. This was an
action which would have awakened the
most negligent cashier had he been in q
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