The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-26

 the present must keep away she would take her revenge on his father by mak- ing that impertinent upstart beg for the alliance as an honor.
 My dead" said the level-headed woman to her daughter, T know that man. He Is a walking avarice. He thinks we are poor. As matter of fact we have always lived within our income. and your father Is bringing home with him, this very voyage, from India the bulk of our savings, which amounts to f14.000--not a large for tune, but big sum to have in hard cash. as Hardie would say, and I will make you happy with it. I shall de- posit three or four thousand every month with MT. Hardie--he is our ban ker, you know--and he will begin 10 open his eyes and reopen negotiations.
 If he does not I shall call at the bank and draw a check for the entire fourteen thousand pounds. No pro- vincial banker has that amount of ready cash lying loose in his tills. and his commercial honor.' the one semi chivalrous feeling he possesses, will be in peril. He will yield and with grace; none the less readily that his bank and his house, which have been long heavily mortgaged to our trustees. were made virtually theirs yesterday. l set that on fc'ot within twelve hours of Mir. Hardie's ampertinent letter. When he finds can post him for not cashing my check. and turn him out into the streots by virtue of our trustees own ing his house and his bank building, never fear but he will come to terms"
 "Oh, mama" cried Julia, "am to be bought and sold?'
 My dear" replied Mrs. Dodd calm ly. you must pay the penalty for low ing a sparvenus son."
 Mrs. Dodd walked her quarter deck quite as authoritively as Captain Dodd walked his. so all that Julia could do was to go away and have a good cry. Mrs. Dodd had an interview with Alfred, in which she told him that Julia would yet be his, and said: My poor boy, pray for my husbands safe return, for upon that depends Julias happiness and yours"
 Meantime Captain Dodd was home ward bound with the fourteen thousand pounds of hard cash-although it was in soft bank notes-carried in an oil skin covered pocketbook worn next to his heart. The hard cash seemed to be a yeritable Jonah. The ship Agra, which Dodd commanded. was Rt- tackled by pirates and just escaped cap ture; then was almost lost in a typhoon, and finally was wrecked on the French coast.
 Captain Dodd gots ashore in safety, made his way to England and hastened toward home, where anxious hearts awaited him. It was his great desire to reach home before the news of the loss of the Arga could get there.
 When he came to Hardie's bank. an institution which he regarded as the Bank of England for solidity. he said to himself, "Tll just stop and deposit this money. I don't want 1t about me a minute longer than necessary"
 Never did a depositor enter a bank ing house at a more opportune moment flor the bank. Richard Hardie had been for some time preparing to fail. When a bank fails somebody has to lose money and in order that it might not be himself Hardie had kept a c3uble set of books and laid away a snug little fortune to enable him to live the rest of his life as a highly prosperous bank rupt.
 His aged clerk, Noah Skinner had de- tected the little plan and had announced his knowledge to his employer just before Captain Dodd came in. Natur- ally Skinner expected some of the spells, and the more so as he had that morning saved the bank from falling prematurely when man had come in to draw out nine hundred pounds more money than the bank had in its coffers-by paying him in bills of Hardie & Go. As the man could not read. he thought the bills were good hard cash and was content So was Hardie.
 Now in rolls Captain Dodd. a god from the machine, rips out his fourteen thousand pounds and deposits 1t. The pleasure which Hardie and Skinner expressed at seeing the captain was as genuine as ever greeted a returned mariner since the singing of the first chanty.
 q would like a receipt for 1t, if you please" said the captain.
 'It is unusual" replied Hardie, but if you wish it-why-yes-of course'
 "Hardie's bank is saved for another hundred years!" cried Skinner, as the door closed behind the captain.
 Hum! don't know" replied Hardie we will not enter this on the books just now-we1l-weIl put 1t in the safe"
 Hardie was one of the trustees for his son, who had inherited from his mother a fortune of ten thousand pounds and five of that ten Hardie had ''borrowed" for his private hoard. If his son married there would be some sort of a marriage settlement and the Borrowing" would be discovered. That was the reason he had so curtly an swered Mrs. Dodd's letter. He now concluded to add the captains four teen thousand to the same fund which had received Alfreds five thousand.
 Captain Dodd met in the street old Maxley, who took care of his garden and who was the man who had called for his nine hundred pounds that morn ing and got Hardie's notes. Maxley was devoted to the captain. greeted him enthusiastically and then whis- pered "I seen you comin' out of liar dies, cap'en Hope you didn't leave no money Got this letter from my son in Canady this mornin', Little gal spelled 1t out for me. She didn't sense It. So keep it quiet cap'en"
 The captain read The letter an- nounced that Hardie's agent in Canada had dishonored a bill and said there were no more assets. Captain Dodd rushed back to the bank and burst in with. MT Hardie, want my money back"
 certainly" said Hardie. call to- marrow. Bank opens at 10 o'clock and it shall be paid you in the usual way"
 T want 1t now" threatened the cap tain.
 Impossible. It is after banking hours and the cashier has gone" said the banker.
 Wildly, with many threats and way ing his receipt in one hand, Dodd de manded his money, and then, realiz- ing that he had been trapped, fell to inc floor in a fit of apoplexy. Skinner and Hardie took him to the sidewalk ana called help. They had found him there, they said. So Captain Dodd was borne to his home unconscious and lowering between life and death.