privately. The stranger asked for and got five cheques on a
metropolitan bank–drawn to “Bearer,”–four for $1,500 each, and one
for $34,000. He put one of the former in his pocket-book, and the
remainder, representing $38,500, he put in an envelope, and with
these he added a note which he wrote after Harkness was gone. At
eleven he called at the Richards’ house and knocked. Mrs. Richards
peeped through the shutters, then went and received the envelope,
and the stranger disappeared without a word. She came back flushed
and a little unsteady on her legs, and gasped out:
“I am sure I recognised him! Last night it seemed to me that maybe
I had seen him somewhere before.”
“He is the man that brought the sack here?”
“I am almost sure of it.”
“Then he is the ostensible Stephenson too, and sold every important
citizen in this town with his bogus secret. Now if he has sent
cheques instead of money, we are sold too, after we thought we had
escaped. I was beginning to feel fairly comfortable once more,
after my night’s rest, but the look of that envelope makes me sick.
It isn’t fat enough; $8,500 in even the largest bank-notes makes
more bulk than that.”
“Edward, why do you object to cheques?”
“Cheques signed by Stephenson! I am resigned to take the $8,500 if
it could come in bank-notes–for it does seem that it was so
ordered, Mary–but I have never had much courage, and I have not the
pluck to try to market a cheque signed with that disastrous name.
It would be a trap. That man tried to catch me; we escaped somehow
or other; and now he is trying a new way. If it is cheques–”
“Oh, Edward, it is TOO bad!” And she held up the cheques and began
to cry.
“Put them in the fire! quick! we mustn’t be tempted. It is a trick
to make the world laugh at US, along with the rest, and– Give them
to ME, since you can’t do it!” He snatched them and tried to hold
his grip till he could get to the stove; but he was human, he was a
cashier, and he stopped a moment to make sure of the signature.
Then he came near to fainting.
“Fan me, Mary, fan me! They are the same as gold!”
“Oh, how lovely, Edward! Why?”
“Signed by Harkness. What can the mystery of that be, Mary?”
“Edward, do you think–”
“Look here–look at this! Fifteen–fifteen–fifteen–thirty-four.
Thirty-eight thousand five hundred! Mary, the sack isn’t worth
twelve dollars, and Harkness–apparently–has paid about par for
it.”
“And does it all come to us, do you think–instead of the ten
thousand?”
“Why, it looks like it. And the cheques are made to ‘Bearer,’ too.”
“Is that good, Edward? What is it for?”
“A hint to collect them at some distant bank, I reckon. Perhaps
Harkness doesn’t want the matter known. What is that–a note?”
“Yes. It was with the cheques.”
It was in the “Stephenson” handwriting, but there was no signature.
It said:
“I am a disappointed man. Your honesty is beyond the reach of
temptation. I had a different idea about it, but I wronged you in
that, and I beg pardon, and do it sincerely. I honour you–and that
is sincere too. This town is not worthy to kiss the hem of your
garment. Dear sir, I made a square bet with myself that there were
nineteen debauchable men in your self-righteous community. I have
lost. Take the whole pot, you are entitled to it.”
Richards drew a deep sigh, and said:
“It seems written with fire–it burns so. Mary–I am miserable
again.”
“I, too. Ah, dear, I wish–”
“To think, Mary–he BELIEVES in me.”
“Oh, don’t, Edward–I can’t bear it.”
“If those beautiful words were deserved, Mary–and God knows I
believed I deserved them once–I think I could give the forty
thousand dollars for them. And I would put that paper away, as
representing more than gold and jewels, and keep it always. But
now– We could not live in the shadow of its accusing presence,
Mary.”
He put it in the fire.
A messenger arrived and delivered an envelope. Richards took from