The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-02-14

mas got TO pay too.''
"Sheehan," John said coldly, rising,
"you're letting your desire to get even
get away with your common sense. I'll
not destroy confidence in bank, ruin
it. by going after 1t on mere suspicion.
AS for YOURSELF" he added, more kind
ly, "if you report at my office next Sat
urday morning with new bail I'll go
before the court and ask that execution
of your sentence he postponed until your
affairs are easier" With that he left.
Only few days remained before the
primaries. During the two terms of
office John had acquitted himself with
skill and fidelity. Fear of him had
doubtless restrained the machine from
many characteristic depredations, but
victory was well nigh hopeless. He had
become a candidate again only that the
fight might go on, in the faint hope that
something might occur to turn the tide
in his favor. In the absence of the un-
foreseen he would carry the townships
by a slight majority, but New Chelsea
and Plumville would go strongly
against him. The little city had grown
remarkably in population and impor-
tance. John was an old story in which
it had lost interest. 1t got the impress
ion that in turning deaf ears to his plea
it was righteously squelching a shall
low, impudent, self seeking upstart.
Even among the farmers John met
with the unresponsiveness Of discour-
agement. They would vote for him,
most of them, but 1t would be perfume
torily. hopelessly. They were disap-
pointed. The reform that had begun
so auspiciously six years before was
ending in dismal failure, with no other
fruit than to evolve a new and stronger
machine.
Well it was for Johns melting trust
in himself and his fellows that he
could meet an occasional Cranshawe
or Sykes or Criswell. Their faith sur
vived. He met the trio, the night be-
| fore the primaries, at Cranshawe's
home on the pike. They did not pre-
tend vain optimism; they knew that
they faced defeat.
AT any rate" remarked Criswell, at
y
six years of good fightin'."
81 guess" said Cranshawe kindly.
"ye think it hasn't paid. In one way
mebby it hasn't. An then again in
another it has. It's like what l once
told We. Ye've showed us the way.
If we hain't follered, it's our own
lookout. Ye've done your part"
aye have" agreed Sykes solemnly.
And when he left all three made
point Of shaking hands with him.
CHAPTER XVII.
Shadows.
GSTY1N the bank, behind closed
I8b i blinds, Warren Blake was
ET5.sseeasS ETENesasSS working ut his desk. He had
tsszsssMass55ss5 been seen coming out of the
bank every night for weeks. 1t did
not cause comment. 1t was like War
rem Blake, people thought, to be work
not the key would have detected in
the widened eyes and imperceptibly
tWitching nOstrils hint of the racking
anxiety within. His pallor would
have been attributed to the garish gas
light overhead. Quite deliberately he
added up the column of figures before
/ him. They spelled his crime.
Very cleverly, very characteristical'
ly, he had gone about it. Hampden
he knew, caught in the big deal into
which Warren had followed him, had
drifted into it-had hardly realized, as
in the heat of necessity he asked the
cashier to certify checks for which
there were no funds, that it was a
crime. Not so with Warren. In cold
blood, with nice calculation of the
chances, he had stepped over the line
that he had never before crossed
Once over, he had gone far. 1t had
been a gamblers chance, the kind
that many men take safely, and, when
taken, had seemed all in his favor
But now the luck was running the
other way. If the market sagged fur
ther, he would be done for.
No one, if told, would have believ
ed why he had done it-because the
bank was breaking anyhow under the
load of worthless paper, most of it
legacy from his predecessor, and only
a great deal of money could save it
1t had been his pride to carry alonE
an institution for the shakiness OF
which he was not responsible. 1t hdc
become his life. He had risked all
even his own little carefully accumu
lated fortune, to save all, though he
had made it a point of honor not tc
risk the trust properties in his keep
ing-he somehow made a distinction.
If the market should sag, how should
he pay? Hampden, though bankrupt
would be able to work out of the hole
He could always get money some
where. But Hampden could not
hence would not, try to save both
How then should he, Warren Blake
pay? With shame, certainly. witt