The Storyteller A TASTE OF REVENGE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 19, 14 May 1908, Page 3

The Storyteller A TASTE OF REVENGE

(Concluded from last week).

But it was cnie of these moments of pause, when remembrance iof the troubles o! yesterday was farthest from her thoughts, and she was watching, for an idle instant, the pageant, and listening to the Jmusic of it all, that she became conscious of fresh trouble brewing. The old bookkeeper, to the sound of |whose sihu.ffl'Lngi step, her ear fraxl grown specially sensitive., since she had learned to dread his approach, had pushed Iback his chair sharply from bis place bplow, arid was coming— coming across to her. She turned instinctively as he climbed up beside her, and as she looked up at him, she felt the pleasure of |the moment before melt away, and bitterness against him, rise in its place. _ Solemnly hie laid a alip of paper on the desk be-" side her and turned away , but one glance |at the sheet was enjorigh to stir again,, all the pent-up wrath of the pirl, in a single [instant, almost beyond control. The ipaper contained a detailed statement of all the trifling errors in her accounts for a full month back, carefully tabulated, every jpetty detail worked out and and recorded with minuteness whieh_could only suggest a keen enjoyment of the task {on the pa,rt of the recorder. Edith net her teeth on her lips for self-control. The man's act, intended, apparently, to irritate and annoy and embarrass hhr, wias offensive beyond endurance. It seemed to drive her to action at last, and she turned on him!, with scornful, passionate words rushing up for utterance, till they ■threatened to choke her, 1 efove she could speak them. And tli°n, suddenly, something happened. The door o f the little office, just behind Mr. Mo Cowan opened, and Mr. Swain, the 'head of the firm, entered. ' McGowan,' he said, sharply, for he was a man, who 'did not multiply phrases, ' what's the matter You are two thousand dollars short : ' Edith saw McG-owan turn Iwhite to the lips, and his gaunt frame appeared fa>irly to grow smaller. The amazing suddenness of the 'announcement carried to the girl, for the moment, a sense of tremendous disaster, and it seemed to have jcome upon the booWteepier with li v o force. The hard, (uncompromising line of his mouth relaxed 1 , and the ugly chin Sropped in helpess fastonishment and "dusmay. It even occured vaguely to. Edith that _ his weakness and agitation before the sudden en' sis, serious as it was, were out of proportion to the gravity of it. He l 0l 0 o v ed tap at Ms employer with an air that suggested panic. But the idea that retribution' m some form was about to fall upon her persecutor, was quick to ' find a rlace in tihe girl's mind, and a feeling" that leaped up Yi'<e mounting fire, from satisfaction to exultation, possessed her. ' Now,' she thbugihti, ' oh 1 now; lie will learn how it feelsi : » ' Home in+o my office, • 'said Mr. Swain, his 3jtrk eyes holding McGowan's helpless 'ones .; and in a momrnt, they had boWi turned and had pone, and the office seemed bic an 3 empty jwitWout ttiem. Startled, exalted, ready tq lauph at the "turning of the tables, yet with "misgivtinjr already undermining her momentary triiumrh, Edith bac,k 'to Her desk, and mechanically tried to" ikke up /her work. ' Two thousand' dollars ! ' she murmured. ' Two thousqnid '"dollars ' It's his iturn now.' The cash-carriers sang ' and clashed up their ' long converging tracks of wire to the (terminus just above her head. Business in the store was at its height, -anti hei duties wera multiplying swiftly before her, but she sat with her Kan'ds tughifcly holding to ~ the edge of the "desk, while | her heart pounded, and her eyes grew hot with her passion. Such a shortage, to- her one of huge magnitude, meant: dire trouble for McGowan. It was some' extraordinary mistake, of course, which must explain itself for 'dishonesty was out of ~ the question. . But the mistake was McGowan's .and 1 - it was certain he would suffer for it. And then the -hardest thought o f Jail, crept into her miinia. She "was in a position Ito see that he d{a suffer— that he should n o t be able to hide his error as |he would surely try to do, and that every one should know of his fall fr o m his selfmade pedest&l. It would be Her |opportunity for retaliation, for revenge.

But some impatient clerk, who had waited overlong for change, was rapping sharply oni the wire away down the aisle, and Edith started ;out of forgetfulness and turned bac* to her work.

' Oh, he wall know now! ' she whispered again, • as her finders flew, in their accustomed duties. -' He-wiU havra to admit that he isn't infallible- It's his turn~ now.' And as her eyes chanced to fall again on the memorandum slip he jhad 1 given her, the last spark of stirring sympathy for him was quenched-. McG-owan was very quiet when he' returned {from Mr. Swain's private office, sen quiet, indeed,., that Edith was tempted ta look around at [him, but she resisted the impulse. To one thing she had made up her mind, and that was, that she would bot volunteer or in any way suggest the possibility that she might help Mm to search the fr©oks for the 'discrepancy. It was not improbable Ithat he night call upon her for aid, and she was half-resolved to> refuse point-blank 7if he did. Rather to a her secret chagrin, however, the old bookkeeper imade no request of. her. He buried himself in his work at once, without a hiint of what had passed between him and the head fc>f the firm ; a nd he kept close to his task all the morning. "When the noon

hiour released .Edith, and she did throw & casual glance has way, she fouwd- nothing remarkable in| his appearance or attitude at his desk.

For some reason unexplained,- she felt a curious inclination to reticence, however, among other employees of the store, who knew iMcGowan and his ways, and she told no one of the events of the morning. When she returned from lunch, and saw |the old m a n still bent over the books, with the light of the afternoon sun showing the jpallor and weariness of his face, she wa"s not sorry for her silence.

She was not comfortable. She admitted [as ,much to ' herself before, the afternoon had passed. The conscious

ness of the silent old man working there behind her— over what she knew from experience to be n°r<. e-r.\,c'.<-ing, iheart-breaking labour— be^an to tret en hoi ner\e<-\ She almost resented his silence and his persistent determination not to ask for help, when help would have relieved him of so much.

As ||the hours crept away, and her own work tired her, the thought of the heavy weariness that must be his, weighed morei upon her. Still she hardened her tieart to the promptings of a generous nature, and when closing-time came, she ignored the fact that he turned on the Jie;ht above his desk, and settled himself, as if to continue his labours indefinitely. But when Edith opened the d o or of the little central office at the store jthe next morning, and saw the bent figure of McGawwi still lin his chair, with the light still burning above hfim, she stopped short in the doorway, shocked and startled. Certainly, she had no conception o f what the man's mistake me a nt to him or tha firm, if it justified this. She [had though* of the shortage as a in ere en- o r m figuring, which would require hard work to fnd peihaps, but which was not of the vital import jthis seemed to indicate; and the magnitude of the matter suddenly made her own little anger and the reasons for i Be f a l tnvial a nd Paltry and childish. She could a?"?!,, 7° ICri< ? d out ™ ith sudden Jshame, when McGowan tuined sunken, blocttshot. eyes upon her, land she could s(e/e exhaustion written on the wMtenod lakin about his mouth. She crossed straight t 0 him, and to h ! q T With half - fri S htei ">d feelin S- her readiness

But he turned from her coldly. He seemed |utterly wearied 1 , almost at the limit of, his strength, indeed, but he pushed fback the chair and walked away from her and out o f the office, without other reply than a shake of his he a d.

Thie girl was sick with the -sense of rebuff and rehuke, but she had little dime to indulge the fjeelings. The tasks of the di-.y began at once, and when the bookkeeper returned to his place, she dad \ not have the courage to look at ,him again.

McG-owan was far less quiet this morning |tlian he hail been the long day beforls. He was tin and out* of his chair, he walked the floor at 'times, and once he left the office a nd was gone for more than half art hour Whether Ihe had 'breakfasted or not, Edith could not guess, but she saw 'that he remained in his place at noon. . Anid then, an the afterriorn, the hours dragged again, tall she was ready to drop with nervousness |a,nd "" apprehension. The tired man worked on. Once [he dozed in his chair and nearly fell +o the floor ; a,na" when she impulsively -offered him her ajid he almost snarled His refusal. *

Thle girl was more aliarmed than angry at last. On© glance into the man's face would Have shown any one that he was) taxing has strength to the •cjajnigex-'

line, and the look in his eyes was so disheartened; that it sieemed altogether that of despair. Anxiety jdivided Edith's mind Iwith growing shamfTHnd regret for the" bitter feelings she had cherished, but she -did .not dare to approach him again with the proffer of her assistance, ii Neither did she dare to leave the old bookke-eper alone, in the office again, for another night of ..work. She must stay, and 1 she must devise means to stop or to help tfum. An event which to her, had appeared to afford only a wholesome lesson for an overbearing, intolerant old msvn, was becoming ' something very like a tragedy to his overwrought mind. She- felt now that if anything should happen I—if1 — if he 'should break jjdown — she herself would be responsible. The sudden realization that he was old, almost' feeble, in fact, that he was probably now- occupying ithe last position he could ever holdi, and that he was fighting for it, came to her. Whether Ithe case was as serious as he thought oil-, nat,- he was ii n grqat troubles .an|d 'shame swept over her that she Mad let a ohildiish anger blind her to |his real distress. f Her alarm grew swiftly, as the minutes before closing-lime dragged away, but before she realised it, the store had emptied itself of its busy workers, and she and he were almost alone in the big, silent, place. .She stood by her chair, undecided', helpless. He satin ms, wearily working away, the thin line of his lips set hard, his eyes half-covered by the heavy lids, his shoulders bowed down as "if under something heavier than weariness.

Tears sprang into Edith's jeyes, and with them came determination to compel the man, to stojp and rest. He must have been at work nearly, if not quite thirty hours now, and it wasunot within belief that he could ccntmue much longer. "As if to confirm her fears, too,t 0 0, at thl3 Aery moment the old bookkeeper 'stopped his work, and with a pitiful movement of pain, slowly covorcd his eves with tremMins; hands. Then his head san 1 - forward en his desk, and his figure seemed to wilt into Imp unconsciousness.

EdM* n^vcr forgot the stab !of self-accusation thart went through her with her wild fear. With a cry half of alarm, half of pain, .she ran to him, and tried to lailse his head , but as slate touched him, he sldplped down m his chair, - a nd on the blinding white page of ledger she saw the dark red stafn of bl o od. Alter that tlungs ,were not very clear for • a time. Edith knew that Farley, the watchman in tbe store attracted by her cries came rushing in, and that together th-y land McGowan's light body upon the' floor. Parley iloosened the neck cf the old man's shirt, and dashed water in his face, assuring the girl that He had only fainted, and that it was common lenoueh for men overworked at the desk, to have a bleeding of the £ nose. But to Ed£th, the horror of it was norf; relieved till she saw the old man's eye-lids (flutter : and- then she fell into such a, passion of hysterical crying that - Farley left McG-owan to assist her. It was not till the watchman had worked over both for a lively five minutes, that die had them sitting up and able toi listen to a sound rating, which he deemed wholesome. Edith found herself wrapped In McGowan's old office roat, which had hung upon the chair, and inside of it she shivered and shuderod kmtiseraMy. But when she realised that the old' man was conscious again, and that he w&s looking lat her across the corner of the 'desk, even though his eyes' still seemed to have some of the dim of tin them, she was abashed, and bowed her hracl. Deep in one, (of the poe'eets of the bookkeeper's old coat, into which she had thrust her hands, her 'fingers were folding and crumpling a prisp paper they had found there, and' quite meebamiically she drew it out and loo\ed at at. And then shfe suddenly [gasped and stared, and caught hold' of it with both hands, and cried out aloud with astonished happiness, for -the paper .was a Qheque— a cheque for two {thousand dollars, drawn by a well-known customer of the house, and dated three days Iback. And in one instant it solved completly the mystery of the shortage fri cash. Together the girl and the jm>an examined it excitedly and' graced its story. •'•! suppose I entered itt, and then was interrupted, so that I slipped it -into the 1 pociret instead of into the drawer, 1 said Median. Then he paused and' looked up a,t -fier, -amd ttiere was a little return- of haTdjness in his voioe as |he scanned her tear-sfafaiedi face. 'But I suppose you're satisfied now,' he lattdeft, 'and revenge is sweet.'" Edith choked suddenly. ' On, no , she whispered it isn'ti ! AnS please Iforgive me bec&uSte I 'did' think' so before.' • j j And • then McGownn 'did •_a graqious thing. H<s

stopped smoothing, amd patting the crumpled cheque, and actually reached over to touch her hand, with sudden strange timidity. ' Bless you child !!" he said softly. Then, looking at her with ja queer little embarrassed twist of hisi brows, he |added, ' I guiess we hav'nt understood ■ each other but— l think we shall yet.' ' The Youth's Companion.'