"How does she stand?"
"I think there is no doubt of her. But how is Harriet?"
"All right. That point we settled last night. She is ready to go at any time that Jane is willing to take a similar step. She would rather not go all alone."
"If she will only second me in urging the absolute necessity of the thing upon Jane, there can be no doubt of the result. And she will do that of course."
"Oh yes--all her influence can be calculated upon. But how do you think Larkin will stand affected after all is over?"
"It"s hard to tell. At first he will be as mad as a March hare. But Jane is his only child, and he loves her too well to cast her off.
All will settle down quietly after a few weeks" ebullition and I shall be as cosily fixed in the family as I could wish. After that, my fortune is made. Larkin is worth, to my certain knowledge, fifty or sixty thousand dollars, every cent of which will in the end come into my hands. And, besides, Larkin"s son-in-law will have to be set up in business. Give me a fair chance, and I"ll turn a bright penny for myself."
"How are you off for funds at this present time?"
"Low, very low. The old fellow don"t pay me half a salary. I"m in debt three or four hundred dollars, and dunned almost to death whenever I am in the way of duns. All the people I owe know better than to send their bills to the store, for if they were to do so, and by thus exposing me cause me to lose my situation, they are well aware that they might have to whistle for their money."
"Can"t you make a raise some how? We must both have money to carry out this matter. In the first place, we must go off a hundred or two miles and spend a week. After we return we may have to board for weeks at pretty high charges before a reconciliation can be brought about. During this time you will be out of a situation, for old Larkin won"t take you back into the store until the matter is made up. You ought at least to have a couple of hundred dollars."
"And I have n"t twenty."
"Bad, very bad. But don"t you think you could borrow a couple of hundred from Larkin, and pay him back after you become his son-in-law?"
"Borrow from Larkin! Goodness! He"d clear me out in less than no time, if I were to ask him to loan me even fifty dollars."
"No, but you don"t understand me," remarked Sanford after a thoughtful pause. "Can "t you borrow it without his knowledge, I mean? No harm meant of course. You intend borrowing his daughter, you know, for a little while, until he consents to give her to you."
Hatfield looked into the face of his tempter with a bewildered air for some moments. He did not yet fully comprehend his drift.
"How am I to borrow without his knowing it? Figure me that out if you please," he said.
"Who keeps the cash?"
"I do."
"Ah! so far so good. You keep the cash. Very well. Now is n"t it within the bounds of possibility for you to possess yourself of a couple of hundred dollars in such a way that the deficit need not appear? If you can, it will be the easiest thing in the world, after you come back, and get the handling of a little more money in your right than has heretofore been the case, to return the little loan."
"But suppose it possible for me thus to get possession of two hundred dollars, and suppose I do not get back safely after our adventure, and do not have the handling of more money in my own right--what then?"
"You"ll only be supporting his daughter out of his own money--that is all."
"Humph! Quite a casuist."
"But is n"t there reason in it?"
"I do n"t know. I am not exactly in a state to see reasons clearly just now."
"You can see the necessity of having a couple of hundred dollars, I suppose?"
"Oh yes--as clear as mud."
"You must have that sum at least, or to proceed will be the height of folly."
"I can see that too."
"It is owing to Larkin"s mean pride that you are driven to this extremity. He ought to pay for it."
"But how am I to get hold of two hundred dollars? That"s the question."
"Is there ordinarily much cash on hand?"
"Yes. We deposit some days as high as ten thousand dollars; particularly at this season, when a good many merchants are in."
"The chance is fair enough. Two hundred won"t be missed."
"No, not until the cash is settled, and then it will come to light."
"That does n"t follow."
"I think it does."
"You may prevent it."
"How?"
"Miss a couple of tens in your additions on the debit side of the cash book. Do you understand?"
"Not clearly."
"You are dull. Change a figure in footing up your cash book, so that it will balance, notwithstanding a deficit of two hundred dollars.
After you come back, this can be set right again. No one will think of adding up the back columns to see if there is any fraud."
"After Sanford ceased speaking, his friend cast his eyes to the floor, and reflected for some time. There was in his mind a powerful struggle between right and wrong. When the plan was first presented, he felt an inward shrinking from it. It involved an act of fraud, that, if found out, would blast his character. But the longer he reflected, and the more fully he looked in the face of the fact that without money he could not proceed to the consummation of his wishes, the more favorable the plan seemed.
"But," he said, lifting his eyes and drawing a long breath, "if it should be found out?"
"Larkin will not expose his son-in-law for his daughter"s sake."
"True--there is something there to hope for. Well, I will think of it. I must have two hundred dollars from some source."
And he did think of it to evil purpose. He found no very great difficulty in getting Jane to consent to run away with him, especially as her particular friend, Harriet Meadows, was to accompany her on a like mad-cap expedition with Sanford.
Nothing occurred to prevent the acts proposed. By false entries, Hatfield was enabled to abstract two hundred dollars in a way that promised a perfect concealment of the fraud, although in doing it he felt much reluctance and many compunctions of conscience.
About ten days after the conversation between the young men, just given, Jane Larkin obtained her mother"s consent to spend a few days with a cousin who resided some miles from the city on a road along which one of the omnibus lines pa.s.sed. Harriet Meadows did not use this precaution to elude suspicion. She left her father"s house at the time agreed upon, and joined young Sanford at an appointed place, where a carriage was waiting, into which Hatfield and Jane had already entered. The two couples then proceeded to the house of an alderman, who united them in marriage bonds. From thence they drove to a railroad depot, took pa.s.sage for a neighboring city, and were soon gliding away, a suspicion unawakened in the minds of the young ladies" friends.
The absence of Harriet on the night following alarmed the fears and awakened the suspicions of her father and mother. Early on the next day, Mr. Meadows learned that his daughter had been seen entering the ---- cars in company with young Sanford. Calling upon Millard, he ascertained that Sanford had not been to the store on the previous day, and was still absent. To merge suspicion and doubt into certainty, the alderman who had married the couples was met accidentally. He testified to the fact of his having united them.
Sick at heart, Mr. Meadows returned home to communicate the sad intelligence to the mother of Harriet. When he again went out, he was met by the startling rumor that a defalcation had been discovered on the part of young Sanford to a large amount. Hurrying to the store of Mr. Millard, he was shocked to find that the rumor was but, alas! too true. Already false entries in the cash book had been discovered to the amount of at least five thousand dollars. An officer, he also learned, had been despatched to ----, for the purpose of arresting the dishonest clerk and bringing him back to justice.
"Quite an affair this," remarked Larkin to an acquaintance whom he met some time during the day, in a half-serious, half-indifferent tone.