The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-30
TheGreat Bank
Mystery
A Story of an Employees
Vindicati0n
By r. A. mitchell


There was fete champetre In prog.
ress on the grounds Of NJ. Paul Bris-
son, a wealthy manufacturer, In the
environs Of Paris. II was given to
celebrate the betrothal Of his daughter,
Jeanne. 30 Lucien villaret, a young
man who. without fortune, was de-
scended from the nobility of. France
and whose nature was Is noble a. his
ancestry. Accepting the changed CON
ditions for the nobility under the re-
public. he entered into business az q
clark and was at the time Of his be-
trothal In receipt Of Q fair salary.
Jeanne possessed an equal income from
property inherited from her grandmoth-
or. and her father had volunteered to
give the pair a house In Paris on the
day Of their marriage.
There were dancing and feasting In
the chateau. while throngs Of guests
wandered about the grounds. Just be-
fore the close Of the festivities a
lackey handed Lucien a letter. Luz
Glen opened 1t and turned pale. Then
he staggered to sofa and buried his
head In his hands; but, suddenly recov-
ering himself. he hurried from the room
and, making his way through the
guests, astonished at his appearance,
left the premises.
Jeanne, having missed her lover and
having been told Of his exit, indicating
that some misfortune had befallen him.
passed a sleepless night. In the morn.
ing she received a letter from him
stating that he had been discharged
by his employers without any reason
being given, but since his position was
one wherein he was intrusted with
funds the natural inference was that
he had been suspected Of dishonesty.
That certainly would be the reason as
signed by the world. With the stigma
upon him he could not permit Jeanne
to bear his disgrace by marrying him
Jeanne at once set out for Paris and.
calling at Lucien's home. was inform
ed by his mother that the sudden
transition from transcendent happiness
to disgrace had acted upon his sensi-
tive nature so severely as to throw him
into a fever and he was delirious.
Jeanne visited him In his room, but he
did not know her. She returned to
i her fathers chateau. and that was the
last she saw Of her lover for a long
while. AS soon as Lucien was able to
leave his bed he disappeared.
Jeanne, instead Of remaining In So
ciety, devoted herself to works of
charity. She was a constant visitor to
the homes of the poorest classes, re-
lieving their wants and comforting
them by her sympathy.
| One Of the families she took under
her care was that Of Francois Ferriere.
a man so low In the social scale that
his only employment was picking up
articles in the sewers covered with
dirt and slime, washing and repairing
them and selling them for what he
could get. One day while Jeanne was
visiting his family and nursing his
sick child he came in very much ex-
cited
"Ah, mademoiselle," he exclaimed.
II am glad you are herel l have met
with what may be great blessing, or
1t may In the end be a great misfor-
+; tune. l need your advice, and, wheth.
! er or not you have the wisdom to ad-
wise me, know that under your infiu-
ence can do no wrong and that what
I tell you you will not divulge."
Tell me your secret" said Jeanne
II will keep 1t and advise you"
|
One morning Jules Laroque. the off,
cial who was deputed to sort the mail
for the Bank Of France In Paris and
| open such communications as he
thought might better not be laid before
the managers, took up letter address
ed in a woman's hand to His Excel
lency the Governor" Laroque hest
tated a moment. then ran his steel
opener through It The letter read:
Monsieur the Governor-ThIs is to notify
you that your bank In in q position to lose
q great deal OF money. ELISE r.
Address. General Delivery. Paris.
Letters were received from time to
time by the bank from persons who Of
fered for q consideration to show the
officials how the institution could make
or how It could lose a great deal Of
money. Laroque. considering the let
ter before him to be one of this kind,
threw It into the wastebasket and took
up the next
A fortnight later another letter ar
rived addressed In the same handwrit-
ing, but the stationery used was ex-
pensive. 1t read:
Two weeks ago advised you by letter
that you were In danger OF losing a great
deal OF money, ] have received no reply
to my communication. In order to seeare
your attention have purchased this sta
tionary with your money. The amount
will be returned to you whenever you see
At to call for It.
This letter. too. was thrown into the
wastebasket-
Another fortnight passed, at the end
of which third letter from the same
person came, this one inclosing a fifty
franc note of the bank fresh from the
printing press. The writer said that
the money belonged to the bank.
At last Laroque's attention was ar
rested. He took the missive to the
official having charge of the currency,
who expressed great establishment at
Laroque having 1t in his possession. for
he declared that not single note Of
this issue had yet been paid out The
matter was at once referred to the
governor, Laroque making mention of
the two previous letters received