The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1912-11-08
A BIG FIND
But 1t Proved to Be
a Burden
By REGINALD ID. HERON

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My interview with Edith's father
was stormy one He gave me to
understand that could have ne
daughter of his; that If | persuaded
Edith to marry me without his con.
sent he would never recognize either
of us any more than If we were stran.
gers TO him. and that the results of
our folly and Edith's ingradtude must
be endured without any assistance
whatever from him.
What kind OF young man are
you" he thnndered. for a gentleman
TO give his daughter tor AS poor as a
church mouse, you have come here In
a hired carriage to See me"
Yes | retorted. and I'll go away
IN the carriage In which | came"
And hope you'll stay away"
We turned our backs upon each 9th.
er. he TO go INTO another room. to
go out and get into the cab. saw
Edith at an upper window with a
panied expression on her face She
kissed her hand to me. and / waved
mine to her. Then got into the cab,
shut the door with bang and was
driven away.
As II happened | sat down on the
left side of the carriage, whereas /
had come on the right side. The seat
was uneven, but L WAS ton hot from
my recent in'erview 10 notice IL fol
some ;ine. presently without getting
my mind OFF the latter endeavored to
arrange the former. The hump re
manned arose and lifted the cush
Ion. There lay package about seven
inches long by three wide. the wrapper
being brown paper. was not so alb
sorbed in having been refused the
girl loved but that | removed IL and
revealed II package of bank bills. The
one ON top was of the denomination of
500. The next was ST 900. the next
$500, and ~ on of mixed denomlna-
tons to the end counted $4,000 In
ALL
Here was n lind n big find deuced
big find 1t would he impossible to
klNt NV aflill iNiAfll VI AlbuHulS IldSS-
ing through my mind. had stumbled
upon the wherewithal to recoup.
Edith would yet be mine Would the
owner of the bills turn mp? What
would he the outcome? These were
few of the flashes upon my brain. but
give only n faint picture of the tur
moil there. | can only say in justice
To myself that almost instantly all
gave way 10 the fact that the money
was NOT mine and its owner must be
found.
During the next few days bought
every newspaper issued IN the city
where lived aud had found the bills.
not DOUBLING that their loss would be
advertised When the next morning
after | had found them | saw no no.
tice of them was surprised When
on the second morning no notice APP
peared was astonished. and on the
third morning. having gone through
with dozen newspapers without find
Ing what booked for. | was amazed.
On the morning of the eighth day ]
received Telegram from my college
chum. Henry Harker:
Come AT once The position Is vacant
and cannot remain so forty-eight hours.
This was IN response to letter ]
had written few days before to Har
ker. who had succeeded his father rs
president of large manufacturing es-
tnbiShmcnt. asking him TO give me n
job | am not one to 90 back on my
proposition and began at once my
hurried preparation to leave. But
what should | do with the bills ! had
foundt Acting on the principle the
least said the soonest mended." ! had
kept the matter to myself and the
money under lock and key, ! being the
only one who knew where. | must
act at once | thought of deposlting
the bills in bank No; that wouldn't
do at all. Fifty thousand dollars Of a
strangers money In ones possession
involved danger 1t might land the
finder in ial TO give II to Il friend
for safe keeping would require deposit
ing the secret with him at the same
time.
spent hours turning over differ
ent plans and finally settled on the
following: | went to a safety deposit
company and rented box. II was the
last thing did before taking n train,
and | was in Il dreadful hurry. My
plan was TO use an assumed name. but
in the hurry of preparation | had not
settled upon name. When the GUS
tbdian. an old man, took ont his book
and asked What name?" | gave him
the first that came into my head-Gus
tavus Hail Williams He wrote it
down; handed me the key to the box;
went with me to the vault. put
away the bills. turned the key and for
the first time since | had found them
felt relieved
Harker put me In a position that |
had not been prepared to fill He said
be knew | could learn the duties as |
went along | did learn them. but my
mind was fixed on them to the exclu-
sion of everything else. | thought of
the fortune locked up In the safe de-
posit company once in awhile. but
since there was nothing concerning 1t
to think about more than when left
It my mental dwellings upon 1t were
very brief and less and less frequent. |
] had paid i years rental for the box
and given an address that did not exist
So | was not troubled with any COM
from the company to re-
mind me of 1t.
10 tell the truth, was more inter