The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-05-06
CHAPTER VII.
THE BENDING OF HORACE
BLAGDEN.

Late the next afternoon Horace re-
ceived a telegram that puzzled him not
a little. 1t was from Chetwynd. "Who
won the prize? Wire me at the Hol-
land as usual"
What puzzled Horace was this: what
had become Of the telegram addressed
to his son at the Holland half an hour
after the awarding Of the prize the day
before? But what would have puzzled
anyone who knew Mr.. Blagden at all
well, was his action in sending q sec
ond telegram without inquiring at the
telegraph office why the first had not
been delivered. The thin line between
the bankers eyes seemed to have deep
ened perceptibly after the receipt of his
sons query. Somehow, he had the ugly
notion that his first telegram was ly-
Ing unclaimed at the hotel in New York.
Mr. Blagden usually left the bank at
! n the afternoon. 1t was his prac-
tice. not to say habit, to walk up the
street to his club-the only one in town
that q gentleman could enter without
glancing over his shoulder in all direc-
tions-thcre to read the Boston papers
and engage in a Subsequent game Of
cribbage with Colonel Harkweather,
who also read the papers before doing
anything else. On this particular af-
t%ernoon, however, the colonel not only
read h Boston papers, but scanned
b New York dailies and then took up
the magazines. Finally he went home
IN 4 disgust. 1t was the first time
in months that Blagden had failed to
appear. He was half way home before
It occurred to him that the banker
might be Ill. So he entered a drug
store and telephoned to the house on
the Jill. He was not at all relieved
to hra from Mrs. Blagden' herself that
Hof1 ce had never been in better health.
II alything. h colonel was more fu-
rio < than before. considering himself
a much abused man. He kept saying
owe and over again to himself that he
was sorry Blagden was not I'll: there
was now no, excuse at all for him that
he could see. as s. -a
But Horace sat at his desk much
later than usual On this day, a trou-
bled frovSn on his brow. He was not
thinking OF Chetwynd. as you might
Buppose--at least, he was not devoting
all OF his thoughts to the boy 1t seems
there was a very a cause for sus-
pecting q former employee Of dishonest
practices during the last days Of his
employment In the bank. Within the
past week. auditors, in going over the
ook an~ticipatory to the appearance
OF the bank examiner. had unearthed
discrepancies in the balances. There
was q clearly defined shortage of near
ly $4,000, carried over for several
months before coming to light. Careful
investigation revealed the fact that the
shortage was created about the time
the assistant teller left the bank in
order to make room for the presidents
SON.. The young man himself, one John
Payson, after losing his position, Sc
cured work in the offices of a build
ing n o society, upon the unqual-
flied recommendation of Horace Blag-
den. He remained in the bank for a
week after Chetwynd was installed, in
Btructing him in the duties Of office. AS
near al could be reckoned, the embez-
element occurred Immediately before or
during his week of instruction.
Nothing of the kind had happened be-
fore in the history of Blagden e. Co
Tot so much as a penny had been fell
vniously taken from its Golfers, not In
all the go years of the banks existence.
No wonder, then, that Horace was dis
turbed.
To think that he had employed a man
who could stoop to theft! And to think
that subsequently he a recommended
him to a position of tTustl 1t was most
upsetting. ~ ".
With a promptness that suggested
panic Mr.. Blagden hired a New York
detective and put him on the case. For
a week or more. that worthy had been
devoting his time and Intelligence to
a study of the past and Aresent habits
of the suspected young man, with h
surprising result that, SO far, he was
unable to report to Mr.. Blagden that
they wsre anything but good. This, of
course. convinced Horace that the fell