CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VII.A SHADOW OF SUSPICION.I HAD not sinned against the bank in thought, word, or deed, and I had no fears of the result of an interview with the president. All my sorrows related to my domestic difficulty, which was hardly banished from my mind for a moment, though I did try to imagine what Mr. Bristlebach could possibly want of me. Whatever pecuniary trouble stared me in the face, I had never even been tempted to appropriate a penny belonging to the bank.“Mr. Glasswood, I have sent for you,” said Mr. Bristlebach, sternly.“Yes, sir; and I am here,” I replied, very respectfully.“When did you balance your cash last?”“Yesterday afternoon.”“Did it come out right?”“Yes, sir,” I replied, with the utmost confidence.“Close the door, if you please.”I did so, and though Mr. Bristlebach did not often take the trouble to spare any one’s feelings, this order looked ominous to me. I would give all my earthly hopes at this moment for the consciousness of the rectitude of my character which I possessed at that time. I shut the door, and took my stand again in the august presence of the great man—he was great to me, if he was not to others.“Mr. Glasswood!” continued Mr. Bristlebach, sternly.I bowed meekly, to intimate that I was ready to hear anything he pleased to say.“Your cash is not right.”“It was right yesterday, at three o’clock,” I answered.“If it was right at three, it was not at five. I advise you, Mr. Glasswood, to make no denials to any statement which you know to be true. You are a defaulter, sir!”Troubles never come singly. It was not enough that I should quarrel with my angelic wife, but I must cross swords with Mr. Bristlebach, who was far from angelic. I might as well find the deep water off Long Wharf and drown myself. What would Lilian say if I did? Would she care? Orwould she be only shocked? Bad as it was, the affair at the bank did not seem half so desperate as the quarrel with Lilian. I bowed my head meekly to Mr. Bristlebach’s charge. I was innocent, and it did not make much difference to me what the president said. Under the shadow as I was of a heavier woe than this, it really did not seem worth while to defend myself.“I say you are a defaulter, Mr. Glasswood,” repeated the president, more severely than before.“No, sir, I am not,” I answered, very mildly.“Have you the effrontery to deny the charge?”“Yes, sir, I have.”“You have robbed the bank of twelve hundred dollars, at least; and how much more I don’t know.”“No, sir; I have not robbed the bank of twelve hundred dollars; nor of even a single cent.”“I am surprised that you should have the hardihood to deny the charge. Shall I call on your uncle, who is one of your bondsmen?”“If you please, I do not object,” I replied; and I think I should not have objected to any thing.“Perhaps you will make the bank good yourself?” sneered Mr. Bristlebach.“I don’t owe the bank a penny, sir.”“Mr. Glasswood—sit down!”I sat down.“Listen to me, sir!”I listened.“I have worked up the case, and understand it perfectly. I am informed that three or four weeks ago you had in your pocket several hundred dollars—perhaps a thousand dollars or more,” continued Mr. Bristlebach, whose looks as well as his words were intended to carry confusion to my soul. “Will you do me the favor to say whether or not this statement is true?”“Quite true, sir. The sum in my pocket-book was one thousand dollars,” I replied, beginning to gather up a little light on the subject.“A thousand dollars! Very well, sir! I am glad you have not the effrontery to deny it. Bank officers in your situation do not usually carry a thousand dollars about with them.”“I do, when I have it to carry, sir.”“Don’t be impudent, Mr. Glasswood. Will you deny that this sum was abstracted from the funds of the bank?”“Certainly I shall deny it, sir. Did Mr. Shaytop inform you that I had taken it from the bank?”“Who said anything about Mr. Shaytop?” demanded he, sternly.“I did, sir. It is not very manly in him to accuse me of stealing simply because I refused to hire any more teams of him. Since I was married I have found it necessary to curtail my expenses.”“Do not attempt to dodge the issue, sir.”“I am ready to look the issue fairly in the face.”“You had this money. You confess it.”“I affirm it. I don’t confess it.”“Since you had it, perhaps you will not deem it impertinent in me to ask where you got it?” sneered Mr. Bristlebach, who seemed to be as certain that I had robbed the bank as though he had already proved the charge.“Under the circumstances, sir, I should not deem it impertinent,” I replied coolly; and, under the influence of my domestic trouble, I felt rather reckless.“Well, sir, where did you get it?”“I borrowed it.”“Precisely so! Borrowed it of the bank!”“I beg your pardon, Mr. Bristlebach, but there is a wide gulf between my premise and your conclusion. I did not borrow the money of the bank.If I had, doubtless the paper I offered would have passed under your eyes.”“Mr. Glasswood, your tone and manner do not please me.”“I hope you will excuse me, sir, if I venture to say that the charge you make against me does not please me.”“Will you tell me of whom you borrowed the money?”“With pleasure, sir. Of my Aunt Rachel.”Mr. Bristlebach looked at me; looked sharply at me. He seemed to be a little staggered at something, though, of course, I did not suppose he believed me. He asked me twenty questions about my aunt, all of which I answered with a greater regard for the truth than I was sometimes in the habit of paying to that sublime virtue.“Mr. Glasswood, your cash is twelve hundred dollars short,” he added.“I was not aware of the fact,” I replied.“After you went away yesterday, I made a strict examination of your department, and you have heard the result.”I was surprised at the announcement, and of course I could not disprove the assertion.“I can only say, sir, that I left it right at three o’clock yesterday,” I added.“Do you doubt my statement?”“Certainly not, sir; but I do not understand it.”“The fact that you had a thousand dollars, or any large sum about you, and that you recklessly exhibited it in the dining-room of a hotel, was quite enough to excite my suspicions.”“If I had stolen the money, I think I should not have been so stupid as to exhibit it. If I know myself, I should not.”“But you did show it.”“I did show it; but it was not stolen.”“I think it was; and when I heard of the circumstances, I spent my afternoon here in making the investigation. Perhaps you can put me in the way of verifying your statement that you borrowed the money of your aunt?”“I shall be very glad to do so. My aunt lives in Springhaven. She will show you my note.”“Even if she does show me your note, and it is fully proved that you borrowed a thousand dollars of her, that will not explain how your cash happens to be twelve hundred dollars short.”“Perhaps I can explain that myself, if you will allow me to examine my drawer,” I replied.Just then a light flashed through my mind, andI recalled an incident which had occurred just after the closing of the bank on the preceding day, which my private griefs had driven out of my head. I understood it all then, and I was satisfied that I should utterly confound Mr. Bristlebach, though I was, at the same time, in danger of confounding the cashier. But the clock was striking nine, and it was time to open the bank. There was not time to count the cash again, and I did not care to expose a little irregularity on the part of the cashier, by telling what I knew.Mr. Bristlebach bit his lips and looked at the clock. Through the glass windows of the directors’ room, he saw a man come in with a check in his hand. He was evidently deliberating upon the propriety of permitting me to discharge my duties for the forenoon. We were one hand short, and there was no one to take my place.“Mr. Glasswood, you will not go out of the bank, even for a moment, until this matter is settled. Go to your place, and as soon as the bank closes, we will count the cash again in your presence.”I went to my station, after taking my drawer from the safe. I was now not quite willing tobelieve that the president considered me guilty. If he did, he would not trust me with the funds of the bank, though he had forbidden me to leave the building. I proceeded in the discharge of my duties as usual, but I soon discovered that the eyes of my superiors were upon me, and if I had been disposed to indulge in acoup d’etat, I was too closely watched to permit it to be a success.Within half an hour after the opening of the bank, the cashier handed me twelve hundred dollars in payment for a draft, which had been placed in my keeping, and which I had deposited in the safe. Just after the bank closed the day before, he had accommodated a friend from my department, by giving him the cash for this draft on a bank, which, for some reasons best known to its officers, declined to pay it after bank hours. It is not for me to discuss the propriety of this action on the part of my superior. It was irregular, and the cashier was personally responsible for his conduct. The draft had been handed to me, and I included it in my cash in balancing.I learned that the cashier had not been present when the president counted my cash. The book-keeper and receiving teller had assisted him, and as the draft was not in my drawer, the amountappeared to be a deficit on my part. It was very strange to me that I did not think of this transaction sooner.Perhaps if my family trouble had not perplexed me, I should have done so. But it came to my mind soon enough to correct the impression in the mind of the president, if I had not chosen to suffer rather than betray the irregularity of my superior.“That makes it all right,” said the cashier, as he slipped the bills into my drawer, rather slyly.“I’m afraid not, Mr. Heavyside,” I replied, in a low tone, for Mr. Bristlebach seemed to be all eyes and ears on this forenoon.“What do you mean, Glasswood?” he asked.“What time did you leave the bank yesterday?”“About three. I went out to ride with my wife.”“Where do you get your teams?”“Of Shaytop. Why do you ask?”“My cash was examined yesterday afternoon, after both of us left; and I am charged with a deficit of twelve hundred dollars.”“Whew!” whistled Heavyside, more alarmed than I was.He stood by my side at the counter while I told him that Shaytop “had put a flea into the ear of the president” on my account.“The scoundrel! I will never drive another of his teams!” exclaimed the cashier.Shaytop was not likely to make much by his snivelling operation, which was too mean for any gentleman to appreciate. There was no ground for a charge against me, and I think the stable-keeper made it out of pure malice.“I said nothing to Mr. Bristlebach about the draft,” I continued; “and he still thinks the cash is twelve hundred dollars short.”“This is bad,” said he, biting his lips with vexation.I paid a check, and the cashier walked away to his desk. I saw that he was much disturbed. He was an honest man, in the ordinary sense of the word, and the worst which could be said of the transaction in which he was implicated was that it was simply irregular. He came to me again soon.“Although this affair amounts to nothing at all, it will cost me my situation, and perhaps my reputation, if the president knows of it,” said he.“He shall not know of it through me,” I replied.“Thank you, Glasswood,” he added, warmly; but the conversation was interrupted so that nothing more was said on the subject.Mr. Bristlebach was a very particular man, butI do not complain of him on this account. It was proper and right that he should be very exact, and even very exacting, in his requirements. Though Mr. Heavyside had no intention of defrauding the bank of a single dollar, he was imprudent. I believe he did not realize the nature of the act when he obliged his friend out of the funds of the institution. I was fully satisfied in regard to his integrity, and I was more disposed to suffer myself than to excite a suspicion against him.I am willing now to acknowledge that my position was wrong. The truth should have been told in the beginning. Mr. Heavyside might have been censured, as doubtless he ought to have been, but I do not think he would have been discharged. If he had been, perhaps the tendency would have been to make bank officers more circumspect, more inflexible in the discharge of their duties. It is not safe to step over the straight line of duty even for a moment, for there is no knowing how far one may wander on the wrong side of it.If this incident did not injure him, it paved the way for me to take a long stride down the road to ruin. When he consented to be sheltered from the displeasure of the president by the cunning of his subordinate, he placed himself, to some extent,in my power. A superior should never sacrifice his dignity before a subordinate, and should never place himself in the attitude of dependence upon him.The business of the bank went on as usual. My griefs at home had robbed me of my appetite, and I had taken no breakfast. I was not permitted to go out for a lunch, and when the doors were closed my empty stomach and my sleepless night had produced an effect upon me. I was pale and faint, but I was too proud to say anything, and my looks told against me. I could hardly stand up, and doubtless Mr. Bristlebach thought he saw in my wan features and trembling frame abundant evidences of my guilt. He looked triumphant.The examination of my department was commenced at once. The checks paid were called off, and the bills counted. To the intense astonishment of the president, and, I am sorry to add, to his intense chagrin also, the balance came out all right. There was not a dollar missing. Two counts gave the same result. Mr. Bristlebach was compelled to give it up. I persisted that my account had been squared the day before, but I suggested that some papers had been laid upon a few odd bills which had probably escaped hisnotice in counting—if I had been present the mistake could not have occurred.The president stumbled through something which he intended for an apology; and while he was doing so, I absolutely fainted away from sheer exhaustion. Mr. Bristlebach was not a bad man, and I am sure he regretted his inconsiderate accusation. I told him I was not very well, and that the satisfactory result of the investigation was all I desired. I did not blame him. I thanked him for his fairness, and all that sort of thing. From that moment he had more confidence in me than ever—and Shaytop lost another customer.A cup of coffee and a beefsteak set me right, and I started for my miserable home. I was thinking of meeting Lilian, when my uncle, Captain Halliard, stopped me in the street.“By the way, didn’t I let you have three hundred dollars some months ago?” said he.“I think you did,” I replied, blandly.He wanted to talk with me, and led the way into an insurance office.

CHAPTER VII.A SHADOW OF SUSPICION.I HAD not sinned against the bank in thought, word, or deed, and I had no fears of the result of an interview with the president. All my sorrows related to my domestic difficulty, which was hardly banished from my mind for a moment, though I did try to imagine what Mr. Bristlebach could possibly want of me. Whatever pecuniary trouble stared me in the face, I had never even been tempted to appropriate a penny belonging to the bank.“Mr. Glasswood, I have sent for you,” said Mr. Bristlebach, sternly.“Yes, sir; and I am here,” I replied, very respectfully.“When did you balance your cash last?”“Yesterday afternoon.”“Did it come out right?”“Yes, sir,” I replied, with the utmost confidence.“Close the door, if you please.”I did so, and though Mr. Bristlebach did not often take the trouble to spare any one’s feelings, this order looked ominous to me. I would give all my earthly hopes at this moment for the consciousness of the rectitude of my character which I possessed at that time. I shut the door, and took my stand again in the august presence of the great man—he was great to me, if he was not to others.“Mr. Glasswood!” continued Mr. Bristlebach, sternly.I bowed meekly, to intimate that I was ready to hear anything he pleased to say.“Your cash is not right.”“It was right yesterday, at three o’clock,” I answered.“If it was right at three, it was not at five. I advise you, Mr. Glasswood, to make no denials to any statement which you know to be true. You are a defaulter, sir!”Troubles never come singly. It was not enough that I should quarrel with my angelic wife, but I must cross swords with Mr. Bristlebach, who was far from angelic. I might as well find the deep water off Long Wharf and drown myself. What would Lilian say if I did? Would she care? Orwould she be only shocked? Bad as it was, the affair at the bank did not seem half so desperate as the quarrel with Lilian. I bowed my head meekly to Mr. Bristlebach’s charge. I was innocent, and it did not make much difference to me what the president said. Under the shadow as I was of a heavier woe than this, it really did not seem worth while to defend myself.“I say you are a defaulter, Mr. Glasswood,” repeated the president, more severely than before.“No, sir, I am not,” I answered, very mildly.“Have you the effrontery to deny the charge?”“Yes, sir, I have.”“You have robbed the bank of twelve hundred dollars, at least; and how much more I don’t know.”“No, sir; I have not robbed the bank of twelve hundred dollars; nor of even a single cent.”“I am surprised that you should have the hardihood to deny the charge. Shall I call on your uncle, who is one of your bondsmen?”“If you please, I do not object,” I replied; and I think I should not have objected to any thing.“Perhaps you will make the bank good yourself?” sneered Mr. Bristlebach.“I don’t owe the bank a penny, sir.”“Mr. Glasswood—sit down!”I sat down.“Listen to me, sir!”I listened.“I have worked up the case, and understand it perfectly. I am informed that three or four weeks ago you had in your pocket several hundred dollars—perhaps a thousand dollars or more,” continued Mr. Bristlebach, whose looks as well as his words were intended to carry confusion to my soul. “Will you do me the favor to say whether or not this statement is true?”“Quite true, sir. The sum in my pocket-book was one thousand dollars,” I replied, beginning to gather up a little light on the subject.“A thousand dollars! Very well, sir! I am glad you have not the effrontery to deny it. Bank officers in your situation do not usually carry a thousand dollars about with them.”“I do, when I have it to carry, sir.”“Don’t be impudent, Mr. Glasswood. Will you deny that this sum was abstracted from the funds of the bank?”“Certainly I shall deny it, sir. Did Mr. Shaytop inform you that I had taken it from the bank?”“Who said anything about Mr. Shaytop?” demanded he, sternly.“I did, sir. It is not very manly in him to accuse me of stealing simply because I refused to hire any more teams of him. Since I was married I have found it necessary to curtail my expenses.”“Do not attempt to dodge the issue, sir.”“I am ready to look the issue fairly in the face.”“You had this money. You confess it.”“I affirm it. I don’t confess it.”“Since you had it, perhaps you will not deem it impertinent in me to ask where you got it?” sneered Mr. Bristlebach, who seemed to be as certain that I had robbed the bank as though he had already proved the charge.“Under the circumstances, sir, I should not deem it impertinent,” I replied coolly; and, under the influence of my domestic trouble, I felt rather reckless.“Well, sir, where did you get it?”“I borrowed it.”“Precisely so! Borrowed it of the bank!”“I beg your pardon, Mr. Bristlebach, but there is a wide gulf between my premise and your conclusion. I did not borrow the money of the bank.If I had, doubtless the paper I offered would have passed under your eyes.”“Mr. Glasswood, your tone and manner do not please me.”“I hope you will excuse me, sir, if I venture to say that the charge you make against me does not please me.”“Will you tell me of whom you borrowed the money?”“With pleasure, sir. Of my Aunt Rachel.”Mr. Bristlebach looked at me; looked sharply at me. He seemed to be a little staggered at something, though, of course, I did not suppose he believed me. He asked me twenty questions about my aunt, all of which I answered with a greater regard for the truth than I was sometimes in the habit of paying to that sublime virtue.“Mr. Glasswood, your cash is twelve hundred dollars short,” he added.“I was not aware of the fact,” I replied.“After you went away yesterday, I made a strict examination of your department, and you have heard the result.”I was surprised at the announcement, and of course I could not disprove the assertion.“I can only say, sir, that I left it right at three o’clock yesterday,” I added.“Do you doubt my statement?”“Certainly not, sir; but I do not understand it.”“The fact that you had a thousand dollars, or any large sum about you, and that you recklessly exhibited it in the dining-room of a hotel, was quite enough to excite my suspicions.”“If I had stolen the money, I think I should not have been so stupid as to exhibit it. If I know myself, I should not.”“But you did show it.”“I did show it; but it was not stolen.”“I think it was; and when I heard of the circumstances, I spent my afternoon here in making the investigation. Perhaps you can put me in the way of verifying your statement that you borrowed the money of your aunt?”“I shall be very glad to do so. My aunt lives in Springhaven. She will show you my note.”“Even if she does show me your note, and it is fully proved that you borrowed a thousand dollars of her, that will not explain how your cash happens to be twelve hundred dollars short.”“Perhaps I can explain that myself, if you will allow me to examine my drawer,” I replied.Just then a light flashed through my mind, andI recalled an incident which had occurred just after the closing of the bank on the preceding day, which my private griefs had driven out of my head. I understood it all then, and I was satisfied that I should utterly confound Mr. Bristlebach, though I was, at the same time, in danger of confounding the cashier. But the clock was striking nine, and it was time to open the bank. There was not time to count the cash again, and I did not care to expose a little irregularity on the part of the cashier, by telling what I knew.Mr. Bristlebach bit his lips and looked at the clock. Through the glass windows of the directors’ room, he saw a man come in with a check in his hand. He was evidently deliberating upon the propriety of permitting me to discharge my duties for the forenoon. We were one hand short, and there was no one to take my place.“Mr. Glasswood, you will not go out of the bank, even for a moment, until this matter is settled. Go to your place, and as soon as the bank closes, we will count the cash again in your presence.”I went to my station, after taking my drawer from the safe. I was now not quite willing tobelieve that the president considered me guilty. If he did, he would not trust me with the funds of the bank, though he had forbidden me to leave the building. I proceeded in the discharge of my duties as usual, but I soon discovered that the eyes of my superiors were upon me, and if I had been disposed to indulge in acoup d’etat, I was too closely watched to permit it to be a success.Within half an hour after the opening of the bank, the cashier handed me twelve hundred dollars in payment for a draft, which had been placed in my keeping, and which I had deposited in the safe. Just after the bank closed the day before, he had accommodated a friend from my department, by giving him the cash for this draft on a bank, which, for some reasons best known to its officers, declined to pay it after bank hours. It is not for me to discuss the propriety of this action on the part of my superior. It was irregular, and the cashier was personally responsible for his conduct. The draft had been handed to me, and I included it in my cash in balancing.I learned that the cashier had not been present when the president counted my cash. The book-keeper and receiving teller had assisted him, and as the draft was not in my drawer, the amountappeared to be a deficit on my part. It was very strange to me that I did not think of this transaction sooner.Perhaps if my family trouble had not perplexed me, I should have done so. But it came to my mind soon enough to correct the impression in the mind of the president, if I had not chosen to suffer rather than betray the irregularity of my superior.“That makes it all right,” said the cashier, as he slipped the bills into my drawer, rather slyly.“I’m afraid not, Mr. Heavyside,” I replied, in a low tone, for Mr. Bristlebach seemed to be all eyes and ears on this forenoon.“What do you mean, Glasswood?” he asked.“What time did you leave the bank yesterday?”“About three. I went out to ride with my wife.”“Where do you get your teams?”“Of Shaytop. Why do you ask?”“My cash was examined yesterday afternoon, after both of us left; and I am charged with a deficit of twelve hundred dollars.”“Whew!” whistled Heavyside, more alarmed than I was.He stood by my side at the counter while I told him that Shaytop “had put a flea into the ear of the president” on my account.“The scoundrel! I will never drive another of his teams!” exclaimed the cashier.Shaytop was not likely to make much by his snivelling operation, which was too mean for any gentleman to appreciate. There was no ground for a charge against me, and I think the stable-keeper made it out of pure malice.“I said nothing to Mr. Bristlebach about the draft,” I continued; “and he still thinks the cash is twelve hundred dollars short.”“This is bad,” said he, biting his lips with vexation.I paid a check, and the cashier walked away to his desk. I saw that he was much disturbed. He was an honest man, in the ordinary sense of the word, and the worst which could be said of the transaction in which he was implicated was that it was simply irregular. He came to me again soon.“Although this affair amounts to nothing at all, it will cost me my situation, and perhaps my reputation, if the president knows of it,” said he.“He shall not know of it through me,” I replied.“Thank you, Glasswood,” he added, warmly; but the conversation was interrupted so that nothing more was said on the subject.Mr. Bristlebach was a very particular man, butI do not complain of him on this account. It was proper and right that he should be very exact, and even very exacting, in his requirements. Though Mr. Heavyside had no intention of defrauding the bank of a single dollar, he was imprudent. I believe he did not realize the nature of the act when he obliged his friend out of the funds of the institution. I was fully satisfied in regard to his integrity, and I was more disposed to suffer myself than to excite a suspicion against him.I am willing now to acknowledge that my position was wrong. The truth should have been told in the beginning. Mr. Heavyside might have been censured, as doubtless he ought to have been, but I do not think he would have been discharged. If he had been, perhaps the tendency would have been to make bank officers more circumspect, more inflexible in the discharge of their duties. It is not safe to step over the straight line of duty even for a moment, for there is no knowing how far one may wander on the wrong side of it.If this incident did not injure him, it paved the way for me to take a long stride down the road to ruin. When he consented to be sheltered from the displeasure of the president by the cunning of his subordinate, he placed himself, to some extent,in my power. A superior should never sacrifice his dignity before a subordinate, and should never place himself in the attitude of dependence upon him.The business of the bank went on as usual. My griefs at home had robbed me of my appetite, and I had taken no breakfast. I was not permitted to go out for a lunch, and when the doors were closed my empty stomach and my sleepless night had produced an effect upon me. I was pale and faint, but I was too proud to say anything, and my looks told against me. I could hardly stand up, and doubtless Mr. Bristlebach thought he saw in my wan features and trembling frame abundant evidences of my guilt. He looked triumphant.The examination of my department was commenced at once. The checks paid were called off, and the bills counted. To the intense astonishment of the president, and, I am sorry to add, to his intense chagrin also, the balance came out all right. There was not a dollar missing. Two counts gave the same result. Mr. Bristlebach was compelled to give it up. I persisted that my account had been squared the day before, but I suggested that some papers had been laid upon a few odd bills which had probably escaped hisnotice in counting—if I had been present the mistake could not have occurred.The president stumbled through something which he intended for an apology; and while he was doing so, I absolutely fainted away from sheer exhaustion. Mr. Bristlebach was not a bad man, and I am sure he regretted his inconsiderate accusation. I told him I was not very well, and that the satisfactory result of the investigation was all I desired. I did not blame him. I thanked him for his fairness, and all that sort of thing. From that moment he had more confidence in me than ever—and Shaytop lost another customer.A cup of coffee and a beefsteak set me right, and I started for my miserable home. I was thinking of meeting Lilian, when my uncle, Captain Halliard, stopped me in the street.“By the way, didn’t I let you have three hundred dollars some months ago?” said he.“I think you did,” I replied, blandly.He wanted to talk with me, and led the way into an insurance office.

A SHADOW OF SUSPICION.

I HAD not sinned against the bank in thought, word, or deed, and I had no fears of the result of an interview with the president. All my sorrows related to my domestic difficulty, which was hardly banished from my mind for a moment, though I did try to imagine what Mr. Bristlebach could possibly want of me. Whatever pecuniary trouble stared me in the face, I had never even been tempted to appropriate a penny belonging to the bank.

“Mr. Glasswood, I have sent for you,” said Mr. Bristlebach, sternly.

“Yes, sir; and I am here,” I replied, very respectfully.

“When did you balance your cash last?”

“Yesterday afternoon.”

“Did it come out right?”

“Yes, sir,” I replied, with the utmost confidence.

“Close the door, if you please.”

I did so, and though Mr. Bristlebach did not often take the trouble to spare any one’s feelings, this order looked ominous to me. I would give all my earthly hopes at this moment for the consciousness of the rectitude of my character which I possessed at that time. I shut the door, and took my stand again in the august presence of the great man—he was great to me, if he was not to others.

“Mr. Glasswood!” continued Mr. Bristlebach, sternly.

I bowed meekly, to intimate that I was ready to hear anything he pleased to say.

“Your cash is not right.”

“It was right yesterday, at three o’clock,” I answered.

“If it was right at three, it was not at five. I advise you, Mr. Glasswood, to make no denials to any statement which you know to be true. You are a defaulter, sir!”

Troubles never come singly. It was not enough that I should quarrel with my angelic wife, but I must cross swords with Mr. Bristlebach, who was far from angelic. I might as well find the deep water off Long Wharf and drown myself. What would Lilian say if I did? Would she care? Orwould she be only shocked? Bad as it was, the affair at the bank did not seem half so desperate as the quarrel with Lilian. I bowed my head meekly to Mr. Bristlebach’s charge. I was innocent, and it did not make much difference to me what the president said. Under the shadow as I was of a heavier woe than this, it really did not seem worth while to defend myself.

“I say you are a defaulter, Mr. Glasswood,” repeated the president, more severely than before.

“No, sir, I am not,” I answered, very mildly.

“Have you the effrontery to deny the charge?”

“Yes, sir, I have.”

“You have robbed the bank of twelve hundred dollars, at least; and how much more I don’t know.”

“No, sir; I have not robbed the bank of twelve hundred dollars; nor of even a single cent.”

“I am surprised that you should have the hardihood to deny the charge. Shall I call on your uncle, who is one of your bondsmen?”

“If you please, I do not object,” I replied; and I think I should not have objected to any thing.

“Perhaps you will make the bank good yourself?” sneered Mr. Bristlebach.

“I don’t owe the bank a penny, sir.”

“Mr. Glasswood—sit down!”

I sat down.

“Listen to me, sir!”

I listened.

“I have worked up the case, and understand it perfectly. I am informed that three or four weeks ago you had in your pocket several hundred dollars—perhaps a thousand dollars or more,” continued Mr. Bristlebach, whose looks as well as his words were intended to carry confusion to my soul. “Will you do me the favor to say whether or not this statement is true?”

“Quite true, sir. The sum in my pocket-book was one thousand dollars,” I replied, beginning to gather up a little light on the subject.

“A thousand dollars! Very well, sir! I am glad you have not the effrontery to deny it. Bank officers in your situation do not usually carry a thousand dollars about with them.”

“I do, when I have it to carry, sir.”

“Don’t be impudent, Mr. Glasswood. Will you deny that this sum was abstracted from the funds of the bank?”

“Certainly I shall deny it, sir. Did Mr. Shaytop inform you that I had taken it from the bank?”

“Who said anything about Mr. Shaytop?” demanded he, sternly.

“I did, sir. It is not very manly in him to accuse me of stealing simply because I refused to hire any more teams of him. Since I was married I have found it necessary to curtail my expenses.”

“Do not attempt to dodge the issue, sir.”

“I am ready to look the issue fairly in the face.”

“You had this money. You confess it.”

“I affirm it. I don’t confess it.”

“Since you had it, perhaps you will not deem it impertinent in me to ask where you got it?” sneered Mr. Bristlebach, who seemed to be as certain that I had robbed the bank as though he had already proved the charge.

“Under the circumstances, sir, I should not deem it impertinent,” I replied coolly; and, under the influence of my domestic trouble, I felt rather reckless.

“Well, sir, where did you get it?”

“I borrowed it.”

“Precisely so! Borrowed it of the bank!”

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Bristlebach, but there is a wide gulf between my premise and your conclusion. I did not borrow the money of the bank.If I had, doubtless the paper I offered would have passed under your eyes.”

“Mr. Glasswood, your tone and manner do not please me.”

“I hope you will excuse me, sir, if I venture to say that the charge you make against me does not please me.”

“Will you tell me of whom you borrowed the money?”

“With pleasure, sir. Of my Aunt Rachel.”

Mr. Bristlebach looked at me; looked sharply at me. He seemed to be a little staggered at something, though, of course, I did not suppose he believed me. He asked me twenty questions about my aunt, all of which I answered with a greater regard for the truth than I was sometimes in the habit of paying to that sublime virtue.

“Mr. Glasswood, your cash is twelve hundred dollars short,” he added.

“I was not aware of the fact,” I replied.

“After you went away yesterday, I made a strict examination of your department, and you have heard the result.”

I was surprised at the announcement, and of course I could not disprove the assertion.

“I can only say, sir, that I left it right at three o’clock yesterday,” I added.

“Do you doubt my statement?”

“Certainly not, sir; but I do not understand it.”

“The fact that you had a thousand dollars, or any large sum about you, and that you recklessly exhibited it in the dining-room of a hotel, was quite enough to excite my suspicions.”

“If I had stolen the money, I think I should not have been so stupid as to exhibit it. If I know myself, I should not.”

“But you did show it.”

“I did show it; but it was not stolen.”

“I think it was; and when I heard of the circumstances, I spent my afternoon here in making the investigation. Perhaps you can put me in the way of verifying your statement that you borrowed the money of your aunt?”

“I shall be very glad to do so. My aunt lives in Springhaven. She will show you my note.”

“Even if she does show me your note, and it is fully proved that you borrowed a thousand dollars of her, that will not explain how your cash happens to be twelve hundred dollars short.”

“Perhaps I can explain that myself, if you will allow me to examine my drawer,” I replied.

Just then a light flashed through my mind, andI recalled an incident which had occurred just after the closing of the bank on the preceding day, which my private griefs had driven out of my head. I understood it all then, and I was satisfied that I should utterly confound Mr. Bristlebach, though I was, at the same time, in danger of confounding the cashier. But the clock was striking nine, and it was time to open the bank. There was not time to count the cash again, and I did not care to expose a little irregularity on the part of the cashier, by telling what I knew.

Mr. Bristlebach bit his lips and looked at the clock. Through the glass windows of the directors’ room, he saw a man come in with a check in his hand. He was evidently deliberating upon the propriety of permitting me to discharge my duties for the forenoon. We were one hand short, and there was no one to take my place.

“Mr. Glasswood, you will not go out of the bank, even for a moment, until this matter is settled. Go to your place, and as soon as the bank closes, we will count the cash again in your presence.”

I went to my station, after taking my drawer from the safe. I was now not quite willing tobelieve that the president considered me guilty. If he did, he would not trust me with the funds of the bank, though he had forbidden me to leave the building. I proceeded in the discharge of my duties as usual, but I soon discovered that the eyes of my superiors were upon me, and if I had been disposed to indulge in acoup d’etat, I was too closely watched to permit it to be a success.

Within half an hour after the opening of the bank, the cashier handed me twelve hundred dollars in payment for a draft, which had been placed in my keeping, and which I had deposited in the safe. Just after the bank closed the day before, he had accommodated a friend from my department, by giving him the cash for this draft on a bank, which, for some reasons best known to its officers, declined to pay it after bank hours. It is not for me to discuss the propriety of this action on the part of my superior. It was irregular, and the cashier was personally responsible for his conduct. The draft had been handed to me, and I included it in my cash in balancing.

I learned that the cashier had not been present when the president counted my cash. The book-keeper and receiving teller had assisted him, and as the draft was not in my drawer, the amountappeared to be a deficit on my part. It was very strange to me that I did not think of this transaction sooner.

Perhaps if my family trouble had not perplexed me, I should have done so. But it came to my mind soon enough to correct the impression in the mind of the president, if I had not chosen to suffer rather than betray the irregularity of my superior.

“That makes it all right,” said the cashier, as he slipped the bills into my drawer, rather slyly.

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Heavyside,” I replied, in a low tone, for Mr. Bristlebach seemed to be all eyes and ears on this forenoon.

“What do you mean, Glasswood?” he asked.

“What time did you leave the bank yesterday?”

“About three. I went out to ride with my wife.”

“Where do you get your teams?”

“Of Shaytop. Why do you ask?”

“My cash was examined yesterday afternoon, after both of us left; and I am charged with a deficit of twelve hundred dollars.”

“Whew!” whistled Heavyside, more alarmed than I was.

He stood by my side at the counter while I told him that Shaytop “had put a flea into the ear of the president” on my account.

“The scoundrel! I will never drive another of his teams!” exclaimed the cashier.

Shaytop was not likely to make much by his snivelling operation, which was too mean for any gentleman to appreciate. There was no ground for a charge against me, and I think the stable-keeper made it out of pure malice.

“I said nothing to Mr. Bristlebach about the draft,” I continued; “and he still thinks the cash is twelve hundred dollars short.”

“This is bad,” said he, biting his lips with vexation.

I paid a check, and the cashier walked away to his desk. I saw that he was much disturbed. He was an honest man, in the ordinary sense of the word, and the worst which could be said of the transaction in which he was implicated was that it was simply irregular. He came to me again soon.

“Although this affair amounts to nothing at all, it will cost me my situation, and perhaps my reputation, if the president knows of it,” said he.

“He shall not know of it through me,” I replied.

“Thank you, Glasswood,” he added, warmly; but the conversation was interrupted so that nothing more was said on the subject.

Mr. Bristlebach was a very particular man, butI do not complain of him on this account. It was proper and right that he should be very exact, and even very exacting, in his requirements. Though Mr. Heavyside had no intention of defrauding the bank of a single dollar, he was imprudent. I believe he did not realize the nature of the act when he obliged his friend out of the funds of the institution. I was fully satisfied in regard to his integrity, and I was more disposed to suffer myself than to excite a suspicion against him.

I am willing now to acknowledge that my position was wrong. The truth should have been told in the beginning. Mr. Heavyside might have been censured, as doubtless he ought to have been, but I do not think he would have been discharged. If he had been, perhaps the tendency would have been to make bank officers more circumspect, more inflexible in the discharge of their duties. It is not safe to step over the straight line of duty even for a moment, for there is no knowing how far one may wander on the wrong side of it.

If this incident did not injure him, it paved the way for me to take a long stride down the road to ruin. When he consented to be sheltered from the displeasure of the president by the cunning of his subordinate, he placed himself, to some extent,in my power. A superior should never sacrifice his dignity before a subordinate, and should never place himself in the attitude of dependence upon him.

The business of the bank went on as usual. My griefs at home had robbed me of my appetite, and I had taken no breakfast. I was not permitted to go out for a lunch, and when the doors were closed my empty stomach and my sleepless night had produced an effect upon me. I was pale and faint, but I was too proud to say anything, and my looks told against me. I could hardly stand up, and doubtless Mr. Bristlebach thought he saw in my wan features and trembling frame abundant evidences of my guilt. He looked triumphant.

The examination of my department was commenced at once. The checks paid were called off, and the bills counted. To the intense astonishment of the president, and, I am sorry to add, to his intense chagrin also, the balance came out all right. There was not a dollar missing. Two counts gave the same result. Mr. Bristlebach was compelled to give it up. I persisted that my account had been squared the day before, but I suggested that some papers had been laid upon a few odd bills which had probably escaped hisnotice in counting—if I had been present the mistake could not have occurred.

The president stumbled through something which he intended for an apology; and while he was doing so, I absolutely fainted away from sheer exhaustion. Mr. Bristlebach was not a bad man, and I am sure he regretted his inconsiderate accusation. I told him I was not very well, and that the satisfactory result of the investigation was all I desired. I did not blame him. I thanked him for his fairness, and all that sort of thing. From that moment he had more confidence in me than ever—and Shaytop lost another customer.

A cup of coffee and a beefsteak set me right, and I started for my miserable home. I was thinking of meeting Lilian, when my uncle, Captain Halliard, stopped me in the street.

“By the way, didn’t I let you have three hundred dollars some months ago?” said he.

“I think you did,” I replied, blandly.

He wanted to talk with me, and led the way into an insurance office.

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