LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1920, 20 April 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

KABBY’S CHANCES. (Concluded.) Tha night following the on a that witnessed tho scene in the counting-room described above witnessed another robbery of the safe. This time thirty dollars were abstracted, and Andreas Harley tailed one of tha clerks, Theodore Mason, to his desk, and acquainted him with the facts. Mason, upon being asked if he suspected anybody, said ‘Lee.’ The merchant started at the announcement, hut a flesh of triumph stole to his temples. • 1 saw Leo standing by the store last night at eleven, while I was going from the club,’ continued Mason, evincing an eagerness to unburden himself of something that preyed upon his mind ; ‘he did not speak as I passed him, but perhaps he did not see me, as it was raining, and he carried his umbrella low—a little lower than was necessary, I fancy,’ * I am on the right trail,’ said Andreas Harley, exultingly; ‘and yet,’ feigning a sorrowful tone, ‘ I do not want to think the purloiner ia Philip Lee.’ ‘Nor do I,’ said Mason; ‘but circumstances condemn him ; I could tell you more, Mr Harley, but I do not like to speak against Philip,’ Andreas Hailey persuaded Theodore Mason to unburden his mind further concerning Philip Lae, and that night the accused clerk found himself in the clutches of the law. The arrest was so quietly conducted that the public was unaware of the transaction until the morning papers placed it before their eyes. Plashed v- ith triumph, Andreas Harley, on the morning following Philip Lee’s arrest, hastened to the house of the Martins, He had often made such calls on hii way to the store, and this morning he found the bankrupt’s family pleased to see him, Maumee was in the parlor preparing for her class in music, and Andreas Harley thought she looked lovelier than eve- in her plai ■> dress and unnetted hair. He did not dofT his overcoat; bo said he had not long to stay ; ho had stepped in to impart a piece of information which might interest tho tenants of his house. The merchant’s daughter wondered what the nows might he, as Andreas Harley drew a newspaper from his pocket. ‘lam sorry 1 have occasioned this paragraph,’ he said, touching the top of a column of the city news ; ‘ but I could not help it.’ Maumee took (ho paper, and, in a moment, mastered the account of Phillip’s arrest. ‘Mr Harley, can you not be mistaken?’ rhe asked, when she looked from tho paper with pallid face. ‘No, Maumee; the proofs are convincing against him,’ he answered, and then, while the fair girl’s head lay on her boscin, and her eyes swimna'ng in ton--, =ke fell to tho floor ; he left his chair and came to her side. ‘ Hrl.’ ho said, •is Philip'.Leo anything to you ?’ Maumee quickly diew hen hand from his grasp and started to her feet. ‘He h something to mo,’ she cried, facing the merchant, thr ugh whose scheming she sened to have scon i.-stantly ; ‘he is much to me—and more, . ndreas Harley, ho never robbed your safe ! r - he merchant for some momenta die?, not know what to say, but at lasi ho found hio tongue,

‘ Gin, ho ia guilty, I regret to Bay ; but you csn save him.'

• How, Mr Harley ?’ _‘ By becoming my wife ! I can liberate him, and on such conditions the doors of the gaol will be open to him.’ Fire flashed in Maumee Martinis dark eyes. ‘ A rdrcaa Harley,’ she cried, ‘yonder is the door that leads into the street,* and with quivering linger she pointed to the portal. ‘ This house is mine.’ * I care not.’ ‘ I can turn yon out into the snow. ’ ‘ Thera is the door ; I wish to live under sneh bounty as yours no longer.’ ‘ I will not go until yon promise to be my wife,’said the merchant, sternly. At that moment the widow entered the room, and Manmeo sprung into tho chamber which her mother had just vacated. An instant later she re-appmred, bearing a musket of quaint and clumsy workmanship. ‘Go, Andreas Hartley,’ she cried, in a determined tone ; ‘mother, please open the door for tho plotter.’ Wondering what had transpired tc mar the friendship existing between Manmeo uni the merchant, Mrs Martin opened the parlour door, and Andreas Karle-.y, with clenched hands and vengeful visage, strode from tho room. Ivo sooner had ha departed than Maumee dropped the gun, and throw he-self into her mother’s arms. ‘Oh, mother! mother !’ she cried, ‘how swiftly one misfortune follows another ; hut, ’ and she lifted her head, ‘Philip shall not be condemned ! He shall not fall tho victim of a conspiracy—never ! ’ Yet that day the Martins were driven from beneath tho roof which had sheltered them since their lir>t great misfortune, and they found a temporary abode with Philip Lee's widowed mother. Maumee soon learned the particulars of her lover’s arrest and preliminary examination, and tho following day she purchased a pistol with a portion of her musical earnings. When night came she made her way to Theodore Mason’s chamber, and startled tho clerk by her abrupt appearance. The young man’s face assumed a deadly hue, and Maumee’s mental ejaculation was,-‘l’ve found tho right man.’ dhe knew much o! Theodore Mason’s habits, and she judged him to bo the robber of the merchant’s safe. At first he denied the charge, but when he saw the pistol clutched by the girl’s fair white hands, he changed his tune. He wrote his confession on paper, and it implicated Andreas Harley. The clerk had been detect'd in his crime by tho merchant, who had promised to pardon him if he would aid him to convict Philip, who, in time, wedded Maumee Martin. Young Mason was permitted to escape, and when Harley heard of the confession he hastily disposed of his store, and followed him. The guilty e’erk left behind him the skeleton keys with which he had opened the safe, and they etill hang in the luxurious house of Philip Lee, now one of Chicago’s merchant; princes.