The Marshall republican., 1909-07-30

a man like Ankony Is not a nice thing |
TO stand. | beat my gloves against
ray leg wanted TO throw them in
his face. But it was not at Just the
stage in the proceedings when | could
afford to, so | held down my choler.
He dragged a chair to the table, and
| followed. He flung open the books
with an air OF triumph that he had
not the decency to conceal. knew
how he was smarting under Barbara's
refusal.
For an hour we went over the ac'I
counts. Then we looked I'D and faced
rach other: Jim Austin had made no
mistake.
Social success is costly, you see."
Ankony commented. "A poor man
cant afford TO nuke himself quite so
nice to the halt and the sick and the
blind"
Nor can q rich man afford to make
Niirself so insolent," said I. You are
talking of a friend of mine, remem.
ber.'
"a nice kind of a friend, I must
say!"
IAN unfortunate one"
i've no patience with that sort of
thing, Twining," he declared, a little
conciliatingly.
NO, | don't expect you to have.
Neither do I expect you to understand
his temptation; | don't understand 1t
myself. for I wasn't born a rich mans
soa. thank God. TO Rave the silver
spoon snatched suddenly out of my
r1outh and n rough pewter one pushed
IA in its place! It's not a pleasant
experience that. and II we haven't
gone through It we don't know any
hing about It. II takes a strong mar
20 meet that sort OF thing and not be
Upset. by It. Dan isn't strong, per.
haps; he is only open.hearted and big
and generous and kind"
And a thief" supplemented he.
He was not an intentional one. He
meant to put the money back, | am as
sured of that"
"oh, they all expect to do that"
IL dare say" / replied ~unargument-
ativcly.
That's no excuse" he protested.
II am not urging 1t as one"
"A mans a fool to take such
chances"
Discretion stands for morality with
you, them" | remarked.
mo such thing" he cried. There's
nc use in getting excited or sor about
this thing, Twining."
I made a hasty calculation ard of
fered him my proposition. 1t was to
refund to him before the end of six
! weei:s all that Hemingway had taken
with interest, Dan to be turned over
to me, and nothing to be said Of the
! affair to any one.
~ suppose you call that restitu.
tion?" he incurred.
Something like 1t. yes"
We'll. ! don't. We're tired of this
thing of being robbed behind our
backs by the men We trust. l didn't
send for you to consider ways and
of getting the money back and
letting Hemingway go scot free. l sent
for you as the company's attorney to
proceed at once with the necessary
steps leading to his arrest and incar-
ceration."
"Ah," said l, now we understand
each other"
He nodded.
:" would hardly have expected this
Of you, Ankony."
you admit the theft, don't your"
do you admit the motive that
prompts you in the prosecution"
That's got nothing to do with 1t
But naturally-quite naturally. I'm
sure-it is to our interest TO stop this
business and make an example of the
thief. We've stood 1t toe long al
ready. This is the fifth time this has
happened to the company in twice
that many years, tell you It won
do to let 1t go on"
l looked at him and smiled. II MAJ
not have been a very pleasant smile
I certainly didn't intend IL to be, anC
he flushed beneath II.
What do you mean?" he clustered
That what you are telling me Is al
nonsense" l retorted.
Now that you've gone this far, pei
haps you will go a little farther an,
make yourself plain" he cried an
' grily.
Certainly. You were refused las
night by Miss Hemingway"
"She told you that?"
IF you knew her better you woul
not ask such a question. She told m
nothing, You made your proposal S
public that the refusal was bound I
be more or less so, and you have you
self to thank for the fact that l. wit
others, know of 1t. Now, to make he
suffer, you throw her brother int
prison."
He got up holly and took a step {
two toward me.
BE careful what you say. 70
know better than that"
Your habit has not been to ru
down Offenders" l remarked.
We've had to let several Of the
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