CHAPTER XVIII.BUSTUMUPS AT FIFTY.BY the ruse in which Cormorin had instructed me, and for which he had furnished the funds, I had provided against any exposure. By this time I was fully satisfied that my uncle was working against me; not that he intended to ruin me, but only to maintain his own power and influence over me. There are men of this stamp in the world, who will punish their best friends when they refuse to be guided by them. Captain Halliard was as jealous of his influence as he was of his money.As my account with the bank was now square, I had no fear of the investigation which was in progress. Mr. Heavyside, who had never been suspected of even an irregularity, had been so kind as to inform me of the proposed examination. I had in him a good friend, and a mortgage on his future fidelity to me. I should defeat my uncle this time, as I had before, but it was annoying to be subjected to his espionage, thoughI could not afford to have a serious quarrel with him.I went home at about the usual hour. My Bustumups had done so well that I was tolerably light-hearted. Lilian was as joyous as a dream in June. Bertha had been with her all the forenoon, and I heard much in praise of Tom Flynn. We dined, and then I proposed to Lilian that we should ride out into the country. She was glad to go, and we went. On my return home at six o’clock, Biddy handed me a note from Mr. Bristlebach. I recognized his heavy hand-writing, and my blood ceased to flow in its channels. I tore open the envelope. It was simply a request to appear at the bank immediately.What could it mean? My cash was all right. They could not have discovered the truth. That was simply impossible. If there was any trouble at the present time, Cormorin, and not myself, would be the sufferer. If there had been a discovery of the whole truth, Mr. Bristlebach was not the man to have sent a note to me; he would have sent a constable. I decided to go at once to the bank, for I was satisfied, from the manner in which the message had come, and by the assurance that my cash was all right, that nothingvery serious could be charged upon me. I told Lilian I was going down town for an hour, and she did not bother me with any troublesome questions.On my arrival at the bank I found the president and my uncle in the directors’ room. Both of them looked severe, but Captain Halliard did not seem to be so much at his ease as usual. I knew him well enough to be able to read his thoughts, and whatever mischief was brewing he was at the bottom of it.“Mr. Glasswood, of course you are aware that There is a deficiency in your account?” said Mr. Bristlebach.“No, sir, I am not aware of it,” I replied; and as I spoke the literal truth, I answered with confidence.“You are not?”“No, sir.”“Did you balance your cash to-day?”“I did, sir; and at half-past two it was all right.”“You put a bold face on the matter.”“Certainly I do, sir. I am innocent of the charge, and I can afford to speak the truth.”“Nevertheless, your cash is short.”“It was not short at half-past two to-day,” I replied, glancing at my uncle.He was uneasy, and did not confront me when I gazed at him.“It is not a large deficiency,” added Mr. Bristlebach, “but large enough to demand inquiry.”“May I ask how much you found it short,” I inquired.“Only three hundred dollars.”“There may be some mistake—I hope there is,” suggested my uncle.“Who counted the cash?” I asked.“We counted it together,” replied the president. “I wish to add that I do not regard you as a defaulter or any thing of that sort. I sent for you to enable you to explain the matter.”“I have no further explanation to make. I left my cash all right to-day,” I added, confidently.“He is so sure, that I rather think some mistake has been made,” added Captain Halliard.“Probably there has been. Mr. Glasswood, I have had the utmost confidence in you. When I suspected you before, a second examination convinced me of your integrity. I have no doubt it will be so this time.”“I cannot undertake to keep my cash right, if other persons are allowed to go to my drawer,” I continued, rather savagely.“What!” exclaimed my uncle, springing to his feet.“I said what I meant to say,” I replied.The remark hit just where I intended it should. Mr. Bristlebach and my uncle had been counting my cash. I had left it all right. If the deficiency was insignificant, it was still enough to ruin me. I had already made up my mind how my cash happened to be short. If the president had made the examination himself there would have been no deficiency. Of course I mean to say that Captain Halliard himself had been the author of the mischief. In other words, he had either taken three hundred dollars from my cash, or had falsely reported his count.Before I ventured to make this violent statement, I put my uncle fairly on trial, and called up all the circumstances of our present relations to testify against him. He was determined to maintain his influence over me, and to prevent me from saying any thing to Aunt Rachel about him. I had refused to give up my house at his bidding, and prevented him from obliging hisfriend, Mr. Brentbone. I had roundly reproached him for his conduct to me, and used language which he could not tolerate in any one. I was satisfied that he had a strong motive for desiring to obtain a hold upon me.A strong motive, however, is not sufficient to explain so dastardly an act as that in which I had dared to implicate my uncle. A man of integrity, simply an honest man, would not be guilty of so vile a deed. Was my uncle capable of such an act? He had procured my situation for me by bringing up a charge against Tom Flynn which both he and I knew was false—one which he himself had disproved as soon as his purpose was accomplished. If he would do one mean thing, he would not halt at another.He had compelled me to pay the thousand dollars I owed Aunt Rachel, out of sheer malice, and only to put me in a position where he could control me. The mild speech of the president of the bank assured me that I was not to be harshly dealt with; and my uncle gently suggested that there might be a mistake.“Be careful what you say, Mr. Glasswood,” said the president. “Now I’m going out to get a cup of tea; when I come back we will ascertain whether there is a mistake or not.”Mr. Bristlebach left the room. My uncle looked embarrassed, thrust his fingers into his vest pockets, and seemed to be feeling for something. I was tempted to spring upon him, and throw out the contents of those pockets, for I was satisfied that the deficiency in my cash could be accounted for only in that way.“Paley, you have been speculating in coppers,” said he.“I have; but that is my business,” I replied, roughly.“I propose to pay the bank the amount your cash is short, and to hush the matter up where it is.”“I don’t ask you to do any thing of the sort.”“I am on your bond, and I must do it. No matter about that. I expected, after you told me what you were doing in coppers, to find a deficit of thousands. I was prepared to pay even that, for you are of my own flesh and blood.”“You are very affectionate!”“I have succeeded in quieting Mr. Bristlebach.”“I see you have.”“You talk to me as though I had done you an injury instead of a kindness,” added he, reproachfully.“That is what you have done.”“Your cash is three hundred short,” said he, putting his hands into his vest pockets again.Perhaps I was insane under the pressure of his implied charge; at any rate, under the impulse of the moment, without consciously determining to do it, I sprung upon him like a tiger; and having no warning of my purpose myself, I gave him none. I thrust my hands into his vest pockets, and drew from them whatever they contained. I retreated into the farther corner of the room to examine my capture. The deed was done so quick that Captain Halliard had no time to resist, though he seized me by the shoulders. I was furious, and shook him off like a child.“What do you mean, you villain?” gasped he.I paid no attention to him, but proceeded to examine my prize. Among other things I found three bills, of one hundred dollars each.“Do you mean to rob me, Paley?” demanded he; but, like Hamlet’s ghost, he appeared to be “more in sorrow than in anger;” and more in fear than in sorrow.“Do you carry your money in your vest pockets, sir?” I demanded.“Sometimes I do.”“You took these bills from my trunk when you counted my cash.”“Nonsense, Paley!”“I can swear to one of them, at least,” I replied, holding up one of the bills, on the face of which some clown had written a sentence about depreciated currency, that had attracted my attention. “I left this bill in my trunk in the vault at half-past two to-day; at half-past six I find it in your pocket.”“Do you think—”“I know!” I interrupted, him, in the most savage manner. “If I can find a policeman, I will put you on the track to the State Prison.”“Don’t be absurd, Paley,” interposed my uncle; but I saw that there was no heart in the remark. “There must have been a mistake in the counting.”“You stole this money from my trunk to get me into trouble.”“Didn’t I tell the president that I would pay the deficit?” asked my uncle. “Hush up! There comes Mr. Bristlebach! Not a word of this to him.”“You confess, then, that you took this money from my trunk?”“By-and-by we will talk about it,” he replied, with much agitation.I had proved my case. My uncle was a villain. He had taken three hundred dollars from my cash—not enough to make me look like a defaulter—for the purpose of maintaining his influence over me, and to keep me from telling bad stories about him to Aunt Rachel. Guilty as I was, I made myself believe that I was an innocent man, because I was not guilty in the direction he accused me. Mr. Bristlebach returned to the room.“I am satisfied, from what Mr. Glasswood says, that there must have been a mistake in our count,” said my uncle. “As I told you, I was confident my nephew was honest, but I was fearful, when I learned that he had been speculating in coppers. I thought, as I was on his bond, we had better look into the matter. I am perfectly satisfied now.”This very consistent statement was assented to by the president, but my cash was counted again, at the request of Captain Halliard. I was in doubt whether to restore the three hundred I had wrested from the conspirator, but I concluded that I could not afford to expose him. We countedthe cash, which was mostly in large bills, and of course I was fully vindicated. The president was profuse in his apologies, and my uncle was kind enough to take the burden of the blunder on himself. He could even see where he had made the mistake. I left the bank with him, and we walked up the street together.“That was an awkward mistake of mine,” said he.“Very,” I replied, with a sneer.“But I think I can explain it.”“I don’t think you can.”“You seem to have taken it into your head that I mean to injure you.”“I have.”“You are mistaken. I am on your bond. Money is so plenty with you, that I was afraid I might be called upon to pay the bond. Bristlebach is so intimate with me that I could satisfy myself without doing you any harm. That was all I intended.”“And that’s the reason why you took three hundred dollars out of my trunk, I suppose?”“Mr. Bristlebach handed me that money himself. I wanted to pay out that amount to-night, and I drew a check for it. I entirely forgot itwhen we counted the cash, and that was the deficit. Here is the check; as you put the money back, I took the check from your drawer. That’s the whole story.”“Why didn’t you explain it to Mr. Bristlebach, then?” I asked, believing not a word he said.“Because it was so stupid of me to forget that the check had been paid out of your cash.”“Very stupid, indeed!”“I will tell him about it to-morrow,” added my uncle.As I have said before, a man in my situation could not afford to quarrel with one so powerful as Captain Halliard. I kept my own counsel, not wholly certain that he would not yet be called upon to pay the amount of his bond on my account. We parted in peace, and I was abundantly pleased that I had been able to fight off the charge.The next morning, when I went to the bank, I took the eight thousand from the cash, which Cormorin had lent me, and returned it to him. He was a happy man then. I doubt whether he slept a wink the night before, for the idea of being responsible for my deficit, as well as his own, could not have been very comforting to him.I was all right at the bank, and my uncle treated me with “distinguished consideration.” On several occasions he assured me he should use his influence in my favor with Aunt Rachel. If I wished for the money he had compelled me to pay—solely for my own good—he would let me have it again. Indeed, if I was short at any time, he would lend me a thousand dollars. I thought I might have occasion to avail myself of his offer, and I was pleasant and pliable. I said nothing more about the three hundred dollars.For a week all was well with me. Ballyhacks went up to seventy-five; but Bustumups were slower, and had only touched forty in the same time. This figure satisfied me, inasmuch as it enabled me to pay my debt at the bank. Yet I believed, with the utmost confidence, that there was five or ten thousand more in the stock for me, and as long as things were easy at the bank, I did not think of realizing.Then I was sick for ten days, and was obliged to stay in the house, but even while my brain was on fire with fever I went down town one day. I dared not leave my deficit to be discovered by my substitute. I compelled poor Cormorin to lend me the eight thousand again, on the security ofmy Bustumups. They were worth nearly this sum in the market by this time, and he did not object very strenuously.As soon as I was able to get out, I hastened back to the bank, and took my place at the counter. Cormorin had sold his stock at eighty. Bustumups were quoted at fifty, with a prospect of a further advance. My friend had made thirteen thousand dollars. When I had made him whole, he instantly resigned his place, fearful, I think, of getting into trouble through my agency. He went to New York, to go into business there. I did not care. My stocks at fifty paid my debt, and left me forty-five hundred surplus. I was excited over the prospect. I should be a rich man in a few weeks.But everything did not turn out just as I anticipated.
CHAPTER XVIII.BUSTUMUPS AT FIFTY.BY the ruse in which Cormorin had instructed me, and for which he had furnished the funds, I had provided against any exposure. By this time I was fully satisfied that my uncle was working against me; not that he intended to ruin me, but only to maintain his own power and influence over me. There are men of this stamp in the world, who will punish their best friends when they refuse to be guided by them. Captain Halliard was as jealous of his influence as he was of his money.As my account with the bank was now square, I had no fear of the investigation which was in progress. Mr. Heavyside, who had never been suspected of even an irregularity, had been so kind as to inform me of the proposed examination. I had in him a good friend, and a mortgage on his future fidelity to me. I should defeat my uncle this time, as I had before, but it was annoying to be subjected to his espionage, thoughI could not afford to have a serious quarrel with him.I went home at about the usual hour. My Bustumups had done so well that I was tolerably light-hearted. Lilian was as joyous as a dream in June. Bertha had been with her all the forenoon, and I heard much in praise of Tom Flynn. We dined, and then I proposed to Lilian that we should ride out into the country. She was glad to go, and we went. On my return home at six o’clock, Biddy handed me a note from Mr. Bristlebach. I recognized his heavy hand-writing, and my blood ceased to flow in its channels. I tore open the envelope. It was simply a request to appear at the bank immediately.What could it mean? My cash was all right. They could not have discovered the truth. That was simply impossible. If there was any trouble at the present time, Cormorin, and not myself, would be the sufferer. If there had been a discovery of the whole truth, Mr. Bristlebach was not the man to have sent a note to me; he would have sent a constable. I decided to go at once to the bank, for I was satisfied, from the manner in which the message had come, and by the assurance that my cash was all right, that nothingvery serious could be charged upon me. I told Lilian I was going down town for an hour, and she did not bother me with any troublesome questions.On my arrival at the bank I found the president and my uncle in the directors’ room. Both of them looked severe, but Captain Halliard did not seem to be so much at his ease as usual. I knew him well enough to be able to read his thoughts, and whatever mischief was brewing he was at the bottom of it.“Mr. Glasswood, of course you are aware that There is a deficiency in your account?” said Mr. Bristlebach.“No, sir, I am not aware of it,” I replied; and as I spoke the literal truth, I answered with confidence.“You are not?”“No, sir.”“Did you balance your cash to-day?”“I did, sir; and at half-past two it was all right.”“You put a bold face on the matter.”“Certainly I do, sir. I am innocent of the charge, and I can afford to speak the truth.”“Nevertheless, your cash is short.”“It was not short at half-past two to-day,” I replied, glancing at my uncle.He was uneasy, and did not confront me when I gazed at him.“It is not a large deficiency,” added Mr. Bristlebach, “but large enough to demand inquiry.”“May I ask how much you found it short,” I inquired.“Only three hundred dollars.”“There may be some mistake—I hope there is,” suggested my uncle.“Who counted the cash?” I asked.“We counted it together,” replied the president. “I wish to add that I do not regard you as a defaulter or any thing of that sort. I sent for you to enable you to explain the matter.”“I have no further explanation to make. I left my cash all right to-day,” I added, confidently.“He is so sure, that I rather think some mistake has been made,” added Captain Halliard.“Probably there has been. Mr. Glasswood, I have had the utmost confidence in you. When I suspected you before, a second examination convinced me of your integrity. I have no doubt it will be so this time.”“I cannot undertake to keep my cash right, if other persons are allowed to go to my drawer,” I continued, rather savagely.“What!” exclaimed my uncle, springing to his feet.“I said what I meant to say,” I replied.The remark hit just where I intended it should. Mr. Bristlebach and my uncle had been counting my cash. I had left it all right. If the deficiency was insignificant, it was still enough to ruin me. I had already made up my mind how my cash happened to be short. If the president had made the examination himself there would have been no deficiency. Of course I mean to say that Captain Halliard himself had been the author of the mischief. In other words, he had either taken three hundred dollars from my cash, or had falsely reported his count.Before I ventured to make this violent statement, I put my uncle fairly on trial, and called up all the circumstances of our present relations to testify against him. He was determined to maintain his influence over me, and to prevent me from saying any thing to Aunt Rachel about him. I had refused to give up my house at his bidding, and prevented him from obliging hisfriend, Mr. Brentbone. I had roundly reproached him for his conduct to me, and used language which he could not tolerate in any one. I was satisfied that he had a strong motive for desiring to obtain a hold upon me.A strong motive, however, is not sufficient to explain so dastardly an act as that in which I had dared to implicate my uncle. A man of integrity, simply an honest man, would not be guilty of so vile a deed. Was my uncle capable of such an act? He had procured my situation for me by bringing up a charge against Tom Flynn which both he and I knew was false—one which he himself had disproved as soon as his purpose was accomplished. If he would do one mean thing, he would not halt at another.He had compelled me to pay the thousand dollars I owed Aunt Rachel, out of sheer malice, and only to put me in a position where he could control me. The mild speech of the president of the bank assured me that I was not to be harshly dealt with; and my uncle gently suggested that there might be a mistake.“Be careful what you say, Mr. Glasswood,” said the president. “Now I’m going out to get a cup of tea; when I come back we will ascertain whether there is a mistake or not.”Mr. Bristlebach left the room. My uncle looked embarrassed, thrust his fingers into his vest pockets, and seemed to be feeling for something. I was tempted to spring upon him, and throw out the contents of those pockets, for I was satisfied that the deficiency in my cash could be accounted for only in that way.“Paley, you have been speculating in coppers,” said he.“I have; but that is my business,” I replied, roughly.“I propose to pay the bank the amount your cash is short, and to hush the matter up where it is.”“I don’t ask you to do any thing of the sort.”“I am on your bond, and I must do it. No matter about that. I expected, after you told me what you were doing in coppers, to find a deficit of thousands. I was prepared to pay even that, for you are of my own flesh and blood.”“You are very affectionate!”“I have succeeded in quieting Mr. Bristlebach.”“I see you have.”“You talk to me as though I had done you an injury instead of a kindness,” added he, reproachfully.“That is what you have done.”“Your cash is three hundred short,” said he, putting his hands into his vest pockets again.Perhaps I was insane under the pressure of his implied charge; at any rate, under the impulse of the moment, without consciously determining to do it, I sprung upon him like a tiger; and having no warning of my purpose myself, I gave him none. I thrust my hands into his vest pockets, and drew from them whatever they contained. I retreated into the farther corner of the room to examine my capture. The deed was done so quick that Captain Halliard had no time to resist, though he seized me by the shoulders. I was furious, and shook him off like a child.“What do you mean, you villain?” gasped he.I paid no attention to him, but proceeded to examine my prize. Among other things I found three bills, of one hundred dollars each.“Do you mean to rob me, Paley?” demanded he; but, like Hamlet’s ghost, he appeared to be “more in sorrow than in anger;” and more in fear than in sorrow.“Do you carry your money in your vest pockets, sir?” I demanded.“Sometimes I do.”“You took these bills from my trunk when you counted my cash.”“Nonsense, Paley!”“I can swear to one of them, at least,” I replied, holding up one of the bills, on the face of which some clown had written a sentence about depreciated currency, that had attracted my attention. “I left this bill in my trunk in the vault at half-past two to-day; at half-past six I find it in your pocket.”“Do you think—”“I know!” I interrupted, him, in the most savage manner. “If I can find a policeman, I will put you on the track to the State Prison.”“Don’t be absurd, Paley,” interposed my uncle; but I saw that there was no heart in the remark. “There must have been a mistake in the counting.”“You stole this money from my trunk to get me into trouble.”“Didn’t I tell the president that I would pay the deficit?” asked my uncle. “Hush up! There comes Mr. Bristlebach! Not a word of this to him.”“You confess, then, that you took this money from my trunk?”“By-and-by we will talk about it,” he replied, with much agitation.I had proved my case. My uncle was a villain. He had taken three hundred dollars from my cash—not enough to make me look like a defaulter—for the purpose of maintaining his influence over me, and to keep me from telling bad stories about him to Aunt Rachel. Guilty as I was, I made myself believe that I was an innocent man, because I was not guilty in the direction he accused me. Mr. Bristlebach returned to the room.“I am satisfied, from what Mr. Glasswood says, that there must have been a mistake in our count,” said my uncle. “As I told you, I was confident my nephew was honest, but I was fearful, when I learned that he had been speculating in coppers. I thought, as I was on his bond, we had better look into the matter. I am perfectly satisfied now.”This very consistent statement was assented to by the president, but my cash was counted again, at the request of Captain Halliard. I was in doubt whether to restore the three hundred I had wrested from the conspirator, but I concluded that I could not afford to expose him. We countedthe cash, which was mostly in large bills, and of course I was fully vindicated. The president was profuse in his apologies, and my uncle was kind enough to take the burden of the blunder on himself. He could even see where he had made the mistake. I left the bank with him, and we walked up the street together.“That was an awkward mistake of mine,” said he.“Very,” I replied, with a sneer.“But I think I can explain it.”“I don’t think you can.”“You seem to have taken it into your head that I mean to injure you.”“I have.”“You are mistaken. I am on your bond. Money is so plenty with you, that I was afraid I might be called upon to pay the bond. Bristlebach is so intimate with me that I could satisfy myself without doing you any harm. That was all I intended.”“And that’s the reason why you took three hundred dollars out of my trunk, I suppose?”“Mr. Bristlebach handed me that money himself. I wanted to pay out that amount to-night, and I drew a check for it. I entirely forgot itwhen we counted the cash, and that was the deficit. Here is the check; as you put the money back, I took the check from your drawer. That’s the whole story.”“Why didn’t you explain it to Mr. Bristlebach, then?” I asked, believing not a word he said.“Because it was so stupid of me to forget that the check had been paid out of your cash.”“Very stupid, indeed!”“I will tell him about it to-morrow,” added my uncle.As I have said before, a man in my situation could not afford to quarrel with one so powerful as Captain Halliard. I kept my own counsel, not wholly certain that he would not yet be called upon to pay the amount of his bond on my account. We parted in peace, and I was abundantly pleased that I had been able to fight off the charge.The next morning, when I went to the bank, I took the eight thousand from the cash, which Cormorin had lent me, and returned it to him. He was a happy man then. I doubt whether he slept a wink the night before, for the idea of being responsible for my deficit, as well as his own, could not have been very comforting to him.I was all right at the bank, and my uncle treated me with “distinguished consideration.” On several occasions he assured me he should use his influence in my favor with Aunt Rachel. If I wished for the money he had compelled me to pay—solely for my own good—he would let me have it again. Indeed, if I was short at any time, he would lend me a thousand dollars. I thought I might have occasion to avail myself of his offer, and I was pleasant and pliable. I said nothing more about the three hundred dollars.For a week all was well with me. Ballyhacks went up to seventy-five; but Bustumups were slower, and had only touched forty in the same time. This figure satisfied me, inasmuch as it enabled me to pay my debt at the bank. Yet I believed, with the utmost confidence, that there was five or ten thousand more in the stock for me, and as long as things were easy at the bank, I did not think of realizing.Then I was sick for ten days, and was obliged to stay in the house, but even while my brain was on fire with fever I went down town one day. I dared not leave my deficit to be discovered by my substitute. I compelled poor Cormorin to lend me the eight thousand again, on the security ofmy Bustumups. They were worth nearly this sum in the market by this time, and he did not object very strenuously.As soon as I was able to get out, I hastened back to the bank, and took my place at the counter. Cormorin had sold his stock at eighty. Bustumups were quoted at fifty, with a prospect of a further advance. My friend had made thirteen thousand dollars. When I had made him whole, he instantly resigned his place, fearful, I think, of getting into trouble through my agency. He went to New York, to go into business there. I did not care. My stocks at fifty paid my debt, and left me forty-five hundred surplus. I was excited over the prospect. I should be a rich man in a few weeks.But everything did not turn out just as I anticipated.
BUSTUMUPS AT FIFTY.
BY the ruse in which Cormorin had instructed me, and for which he had furnished the funds, I had provided against any exposure. By this time I was fully satisfied that my uncle was working against me; not that he intended to ruin me, but only to maintain his own power and influence over me. There are men of this stamp in the world, who will punish their best friends when they refuse to be guided by them. Captain Halliard was as jealous of his influence as he was of his money.
As my account with the bank was now square, I had no fear of the investigation which was in progress. Mr. Heavyside, who had never been suspected of even an irregularity, had been so kind as to inform me of the proposed examination. I had in him a good friend, and a mortgage on his future fidelity to me. I should defeat my uncle this time, as I had before, but it was annoying to be subjected to his espionage, thoughI could not afford to have a serious quarrel with him.
I went home at about the usual hour. My Bustumups had done so well that I was tolerably light-hearted. Lilian was as joyous as a dream in June. Bertha had been with her all the forenoon, and I heard much in praise of Tom Flynn. We dined, and then I proposed to Lilian that we should ride out into the country. She was glad to go, and we went. On my return home at six o’clock, Biddy handed me a note from Mr. Bristlebach. I recognized his heavy hand-writing, and my blood ceased to flow in its channels. I tore open the envelope. It was simply a request to appear at the bank immediately.
What could it mean? My cash was all right. They could not have discovered the truth. That was simply impossible. If there was any trouble at the present time, Cormorin, and not myself, would be the sufferer. If there had been a discovery of the whole truth, Mr. Bristlebach was not the man to have sent a note to me; he would have sent a constable. I decided to go at once to the bank, for I was satisfied, from the manner in which the message had come, and by the assurance that my cash was all right, that nothingvery serious could be charged upon me. I told Lilian I was going down town for an hour, and she did not bother me with any troublesome questions.
On my arrival at the bank I found the president and my uncle in the directors’ room. Both of them looked severe, but Captain Halliard did not seem to be so much at his ease as usual. I knew him well enough to be able to read his thoughts, and whatever mischief was brewing he was at the bottom of it.
“Mr. Glasswood, of course you are aware that There is a deficiency in your account?” said Mr. Bristlebach.
“No, sir, I am not aware of it,” I replied; and as I spoke the literal truth, I answered with confidence.
“You are not?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you balance your cash to-day?”
“I did, sir; and at half-past two it was all right.”
“You put a bold face on the matter.”
“Certainly I do, sir. I am innocent of the charge, and I can afford to speak the truth.”
“Nevertheless, your cash is short.”
“It was not short at half-past two to-day,” I replied, glancing at my uncle.
He was uneasy, and did not confront me when I gazed at him.
“It is not a large deficiency,” added Mr. Bristlebach, “but large enough to demand inquiry.”
“May I ask how much you found it short,” I inquired.
“Only three hundred dollars.”
“There may be some mistake—I hope there is,” suggested my uncle.
“Who counted the cash?” I asked.
“We counted it together,” replied the president. “I wish to add that I do not regard you as a defaulter or any thing of that sort. I sent for you to enable you to explain the matter.”
“I have no further explanation to make. I left my cash all right to-day,” I added, confidently.
“He is so sure, that I rather think some mistake has been made,” added Captain Halliard.
“Probably there has been. Mr. Glasswood, I have had the utmost confidence in you. When I suspected you before, a second examination convinced me of your integrity. I have no doubt it will be so this time.”
“I cannot undertake to keep my cash right, if other persons are allowed to go to my drawer,” I continued, rather savagely.
“What!” exclaimed my uncle, springing to his feet.
“I said what I meant to say,” I replied.
The remark hit just where I intended it should. Mr. Bristlebach and my uncle had been counting my cash. I had left it all right. If the deficiency was insignificant, it was still enough to ruin me. I had already made up my mind how my cash happened to be short. If the president had made the examination himself there would have been no deficiency. Of course I mean to say that Captain Halliard himself had been the author of the mischief. In other words, he had either taken three hundred dollars from my cash, or had falsely reported his count.
Before I ventured to make this violent statement, I put my uncle fairly on trial, and called up all the circumstances of our present relations to testify against him. He was determined to maintain his influence over me, and to prevent me from saying any thing to Aunt Rachel about him. I had refused to give up my house at his bidding, and prevented him from obliging hisfriend, Mr. Brentbone. I had roundly reproached him for his conduct to me, and used language which he could not tolerate in any one. I was satisfied that he had a strong motive for desiring to obtain a hold upon me.
A strong motive, however, is not sufficient to explain so dastardly an act as that in which I had dared to implicate my uncle. A man of integrity, simply an honest man, would not be guilty of so vile a deed. Was my uncle capable of such an act? He had procured my situation for me by bringing up a charge against Tom Flynn which both he and I knew was false—one which he himself had disproved as soon as his purpose was accomplished. If he would do one mean thing, he would not halt at another.
He had compelled me to pay the thousand dollars I owed Aunt Rachel, out of sheer malice, and only to put me in a position where he could control me. The mild speech of the president of the bank assured me that I was not to be harshly dealt with; and my uncle gently suggested that there might be a mistake.
“Be careful what you say, Mr. Glasswood,” said the president. “Now I’m going out to get a cup of tea; when I come back we will ascertain whether there is a mistake or not.”
Mr. Bristlebach left the room. My uncle looked embarrassed, thrust his fingers into his vest pockets, and seemed to be feeling for something. I was tempted to spring upon him, and throw out the contents of those pockets, for I was satisfied that the deficiency in my cash could be accounted for only in that way.
“Paley, you have been speculating in coppers,” said he.
“I have; but that is my business,” I replied, roughly.
“I propose to pay the bank the amount your cash is short, and to hush the matter up where it is.”
“I don’t ask you to do any thing of the sort.”
“I am on your bond, and I must do it. No matter about that. I expected, after you told me what you were doing in coppers, to find a deficit of thousands. I was prepared to pay even that, for you are of my own flesh and blood.”
“You are very affectionate!”
“I have succeeded in quieting Mr. Bristlebach.”
“I see you have.”
“You talk to me as though I had done you an injury instead of a kindness,” added he, reproachfully.
“That is what you have done.”
“Your cash is three hundred short,” said he, putting his hands into his vest pockets again.
Perhaps I was insane under the pressure of his implied charge; at any rate, under the impulse of the moment, without consciously determining to do it, I sprung upon him like a tiger; and having no warning of my purpose myself, I gave him none. I thrust my hands into his vest pockets, and drew from them whatever they contained. I retreated into the farther corner of the room to examine my capture. The deed was done so quick that Captain Halliard had no time to resist, though he seized me by the shoulders. I was furious, and shook him off like a child.
“What do you mean, you villain?” gasped he.
I paid no attention to him, but proceeded to examine my prize. Among other things I found three bills, of one hundred dollars each.
“Do you mean to rob me, Paley?” demanded he; but, like Hamlet’s ghost, he appeared to be “more in sorrow than in anger;” and more in fear than in sorrow.
“Do you carry your money in your vest pockets, sir?” I demanded.
“Sometimes I do.”
“You took these bills from my trunk when you counted my cash.”
“Nonsense, Paley!”
“I can swear to one of them, at least,” I replied, holding up one of the bills, on the face of which some clown had written a sentence about depreciated currency, that had attracted my attention. “I left this bill in my trunk in the vault at half-past two to-day; at half-past six I find it in your pocket.”
“Do you think—”
“I know!” I interrupted, him, in the most savage manner. “If I can find a policeman, I will put you on the track to the State Prison.”
“Don’t be absurd, Paley,” interposed my uncle; but I saw that there was no heart in the remark. “There must have been a mistake in the counting.”
“You stole this money from my trunk to get me into trouble.”
“Didn’t I tell the president that I would pay the deficit?” asked my uncle. “Hush up! There comes Mr. Bristlebach! Not a word of this to him.”
“You confess, then, that you took this money from my trunk?”
“By-and-by we will talk about it,” he replied, with much agitation.
I had proved my case. My uncle was a villain. He had taken three hundred dollars from my cash—not enough to make me look like a defaulter—for the purpose of maintaining his influence over me, and to keep me from telling bad stories about him to Aunt Rachel. Guilty as I was, I made myself believe that I was an innocent man, because I was not guilty in the direction he accused me. Mr. Bristlebach returned to the room.
“I am satisfied, from what Mr. Glasswood says, that there must have been a mistake in our count,” said my uncle. “As I told you, I was confident my nephew was honest, but I was fearful, when I learned that he had been speculating in coppers. I thought, as I was on his bond, we had better look into the matter. I am perfectly satisfied now.”
This very consistent statement was assented to by the president, but my cash was counted again, at the request of Captain Halliard. I was in doubt whether to restore the three hundred I had wrested from the conspirator, but I concluded that I could not afford to expose him. We countedthe cash, which was mostly in large bills, and of course I was fully vindicated. The president was profuse in his apologies, and my uncle was kind enough to take the burden of the blunder on himself. He could even see where he had made the mistake. I left the bank with him, and we walked up the street together.
“That was an awkward mistake of mine,” said he.
“Very,” I replied, with a sneer.
“But I think I can explain it.”
“I don’t think you can.”
“You seem to have taken it into your head that I mean to injure you.”
“I have.”
“You are mistaken. I am on your bond. Money is so plenty with you, that I was afraid I might be called upon to pay the bond. Bristlebach is so intimate with me that I could satisfy myself without doing you any harm. That was all I intended.”
“And that’s the reason why you took three hundred dollars out of my trunk, I suppose?”
“Mr. Bristlebach handed me that money himself. I wanted to pay out that amount to-night, and I drew a check for it. I entirely forgot itwhen we counted the cash, and that was the deficit. Here is the check; as you put the money back, I took the check from your drawer. That’s the whole story.”
“Why didn’t you explain it to Mr. Bristlebach, then?” I asked, believing not a word he said.
“Because it was so stupid of me to forget that the check had been paid out of your cash.”
“Very stupid, indeed!”
“I will tell him about it to-morrow,” added my uncle.
As I have said before, a man in my situation could not afford to quarrel with one so powerful as Captain Halliard. I kept my own counsel, not wholly certain that he would not yet be called upon to pay the amount of his bond on my account. We parted in peace, and I was abundantly pleased that I had been able to fight off the charge.
The next morning, when I went to the bank, I took the eight thousand from the cash, which Cormorin had lent me, and returned it to him. He was a happy man then. I doubt whether he slept a wink the night before, for the idea of being responsible for my deficit, as well as his own, could not have been very comforting to him.
I was all right at the bank, and my uncle treated me with “distinguished consideration.” On several occasions he assured me he should use his influence in my favor with Aunt Rachel. If I wished for the money he had compelled me to pay—solely for my own good—he would let me have it again. Indeed, if I was short at any time, he would lend me a thousand dollars. I thought I might have occasion to avail myself of his offer, and I was pleasant and pliable. I said nothing more about the three hundred dollars.
For a week all was well with me. Ballyhacks went up to seventy-five; but Bustumups were slower, and had only touched forty in the same time. This figure satisfied me, inasmuch as it enabled me to pay my debt at the bank. Yet I believed, with the utmost confidence, that there was five or ten thousand more in the stock for me, and as long as things were easy at the bank, I did not think of realizing.
Then I was sick for ten days, and was obliged to stay in the house, but even while my brain was on fire with fever I went down town one day. I dared not leave my deficit to be discovered by my substitute. I compelled poor Cormorin to lend me the eight thousand again, on the security ofmy Bustumups. They were worth nearly this sum in the market by this time, and he did not object very strenuously.
As soon as I was able to get out, I hastened back to the bank, and took my place at the counter. Cormorin had sold his stock at eighty. Bustumups were quoted at fifty, with a prospect of a further advance. My friend had made thirteen thousand dollars. When I had made him whole, he instantly resigned his place, fearful, I think, of getting into trouble through my agency. He went to New York, to go into business there. I did not care. My stocks at fifty paid my debt, and left me forty-five hundred surplus. I was excited over the prospect. I should be a rich man in a few weeks.
But everything did not turn out just as I anticipated.