The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-04-24

he might be arrested during tie cere
mony. Ellen strove In vain 10 eradi
cate this fear. She was arguing with
him when a shrill whistle was heard
without. followed by sharp ring at
the doorbell.
ITS the postman,' she exclaimed
land since he's loaded down with val.
entines he's in a hurry. III @ TO the
door and take in the mail"
She returned walking very slowly
and looking intently at an unopened
envelope.
"Who has been sending hue this I
wonder?" she said. speaking more to
herself than to her lover 1T seems to
be a valentine. At least there are some
flowers stamped on It | don't know
the handwriting, and don't know any
one at the place where It was post.
marked"
ut seems to me-" said Walter drear.
ily, sthat the quickest way to find out
about a letter is to open and read II.
But that's something no woman would
think Of doing"
IF the postmark was palmer" con.
tinued Ellen, without needing his sar-
casm, 81 might make 1t out It's San
something or other, and Col. That
must be Colorado
Break 1t open| cried Walter testify.
You'll drive me crazy"
She soothed him with a kiss, then
tore open the envelope remarking al
the same time that 1t was dirty enough
to have gone around the world. 1t con.
tained cheap looking valentine, and
within the valentine was folded several
thicknesses of newspaper Ellen un.
folded the newspaper and took out two
$500 bills.
For heavens sake" she exclaimed
Walter simply gaped at the bills.
"What does 1t meanP was Ellen's
next comment.
BY this time her lovers curiosity was
excited. With trembling hand be
took the valentine and the bills from
her.
"Why, these are old state bank bills"
he said, wonderingly. Then, taking the
envelope, he scrutinized IT, This val.
entine was mailed IN 1850" he went
on, "and those letters are not Col;
they are Cal. It's from San Francisco,
Cal"
Many a time Ellen Crane had heard
her aunt tell about the valentine her
lover was to send her, about which she
was to make inquiry If 1t did not come
and which 1t was supposed be had been
cut off from sending by sickness and
death. A food of light burst in upon
her, This was that valentine. Ii had
been sent, but had been many years on
the way. The happy girl did not wait
to explain this to her lover. Holding
| the bills high up aboge her head. she
danced around the room. crying:
Now we can restore the missing
money"
Later Browning went to the postotfict
with the valentine and learned trou
the postmaster that postoflire build
ing had recently been pulled down OF
the line the valentine had Travelled. anC
the letter had been found on the re
moval of fixture behind which it haC
slipped, doubtless while being sorted
1t was forwarded and fell into the
hands not Of the Ellen Crane to whom
1t had been written, but to her name
sake and heir, who lived In the hous,
TO which 1t had been addressed.
Ellen placed the bills In Bruwning's
| hands. Going to a money broker, ht
learned that though the banks that hac
issued the bills had gone out of ex
istence d fund had been put aside fol
payment Of all demands against it
Then Walter went to the bank that
had issued the bin he had lost and ex
changed his money for one of Its
81 900 notes and with 1t made up the
deficiency for which he was respon
sible.
The act removed all suspicion, and
there was a happy wedding, made
happier by the great load taken of
the shoulders Of the contracting par
ties.
The $1,000 was in time returned by
the bank One Of the employees OF
the institution proved dishonest, and q
long series of pecuations was dlscov
cred He confessed the stealing OF the
bill that Browning had lost. On that
occasion he was acting as paying teller
In the next cage to Browning. When
the Iatters back was turned, seeing
that no one was looking In bis dlrec
ton, he took out from pocket In his
coat a slender piece Of whalebone with
hook on the end Of II and, passing II
through an opening In the grating that
separated the cages, removed one OF
the bills lying on the counter.
This occurred shortly after Brown.
ing's marriage and caused so great a
reversal in the feeling toward Brown
ing that the officers Of the bank
thought they should make some repa,
ration to him for his misfortune. Be
sides returning the ST, 900 that he had
made good, they created the Office of
assistant cashier and gave him the DO.
sition with a large Increase of salary
So his misfortune turned out to be a
blessing In disguise And 1t served
him IN more respects than one. II
made him a far more careful man and
extremely cautious IN condemnlng 9th.
ers under suspicion. He eventually
became the president Of a bank. and
whenever a shortage occurred he in.
variaby protected the one suspected
from being unjustly condemned. For
this alone he was much beloved By
the employees.