Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1898 — A ROUGH DIAMOND [ARTICLE]

A ROUGH DIAMOND

X-X H, MISS ELSIE, Miss Elsie, ( J the bank has been robbed! •' Twenty thousand pounds gone, missie! and poor master away! Oh, dear! oh, dear!” Fully an hour ago had the above ■words been thrust on pretty little Elsie Maitland's bewildered hearing. She still sat In the exact spot where the bearer of the awful news had left her, too stunned and shocked even yet to properly realize all that the terrible tid togs' might mean. Twenty thousand pounds gone! And the bank In a somewhat embarrassed condition before! Worst of all, the banker himself—Elsie’s uncle was away! Elsie Maitland was a brave little woman, but somehow this last dreadful thing had well nigh robbed her of her bravery. A step behind her, and a low voice ■poke her name. She knew it at once; It was her good-for nothing brother’s. Why had he come here now, bringing fresh trouble.? For the first time in her life Elsie felt angry with him. “Why are you here again, Harold?" bhe cried, when lie was standing there jin front of her. “When I gave you that tast money you promised to stay away Altogether, and try and get something ko do. Yet here you are once more, And this time 1 cannot help you. Why, [Why do you come? Uncle John would be furious at finding you here.” “But he irf away, Elsie,” the young; tnan answered, breathlessly. “Girlie, ■you must help me, Just this once, I promise solemnly never to worry you ■galu!” “You have promised solemnly before, Jlarold,” his sister said, bitterly. “I icannot help you, 1 say. We are all ruined. The bank has been robbed." The startled look on liis white face Caused her to cease speaking. “Is It true, Elsie?" he asked, hoarsely. “Has the bank really been robbed?” She told him what she knew, he listening Impatiently, “I must have money, girlie!” he burst put. “I must have it! I must get away tfrorn here to-night, and I don’t possess p single farthing! Quick, dear. Uncle left you some for housekeeping. That ■will have to do." * “I don’t possess a single farthing, either," she persisted. “What Is the matiter, Harold? Why Is it so terribly necessary for you to leave Blaekmore to»ight?" Their eyes met—hers clear, straightforward, honest; liis weak and nervous. “Uncle will be coming back to see about the bank, Elsie," lie muttered, queorly. “He must not find me here.” No, It would only add to the bitterness of his return. But What could she do? “1 have It!” the desperate brother •uddenly exclaimed. “Elsie, this news about the bank robbery is still exclusive. The editor of the Blaekmore Times would give you any sum for It. He is enterprising, and always ready for something startling at first hand. This is our only chance, dear.” But JSlsie would not see It in that light for a long, long time. It was not until her brother had fully enlarged on the grim necessity of the case, not until he had forced her to plainly understand the consequences if lie did not have money at once, that she finally consented to go to the editor of the Blaekmore Times. Harold Maitland had a smart, cunning tongue; on this occasion he had Indeed used it well. Aa he prophesied, the editor literally grabbed at the “copy," especially after he had fairly convinced himself that his would be the first paper to publish the startling tewron the morrow. Elsie went wearily home with the much-needed money In her pocket. Harold was waiting in hiding for her, and pounced down eagerly on the gold. 11. An hour after his departure their unde’s manager came to the house, and ssked to see Elsie. When he was adsritted into her presence he noticed with a sharp pang how wan and desolate her little face had grown. Poor child I Such things as these were hard for her to bear. How be wished that he could save her an care ( and annoyance in the future! For with the whole of hia stout, loyal heart he

He showed her a telegram which he had received from her uncle. “Returning at once,” It said. “Keep news of robbery out of the papers at any price till I see you.” Elsie read the words, or, rather, they chased each other before her dizzy, aching eyes. She suddenly tottered forward and fell In a dead faint. Next morning huge posters appeared from the offices of the Blaekmore Times, making public the robbery. Newsboys shouted It frantically from one street to another. Soon a big crowd had gathered outside the bank, clamoring loudly for the doors to be opened. :* They wanted their money back, their hard-won earnings, and they meant to get It. That exclusive news sold by Elsie Maitland, on the previous evening to the edltqfcof the Blaekmore Times had caused an appalling run on her uncle's bank. The doors were opened at last; the crowd surged In, presenting checks to the full amount they bad deposited In the bank. They looked astonished when the gold same over the counter in their direction. Clearly they had expected to be turned away penniless. They thanked their stars for being the first. The bank could not go on paying out for long, of that they felt sure. At noon Elsie and her uncle drove up to the front entrance In an open carriage. He had insisted on her accompanying him, despite the fact that she looked wretchedly pale and 111. All the way along they had soon those hideous posters announcing the robbery. “How did they get the news?” John Rivers kept repeating. “Elsie, child, how did they get the news? It Is a mystery to me. If only it could have been kept from them another twentyfour hours I could have weathered the storm.” Poor Elsie’s heart ached. “I have done it!" she cried. “The fault is miner—mine! Oh, Harold, if only I could have foreseen all this! If only I could have foreseen it all!”

HI. As yet Elsie had not told her uncle who supplied the news to the paper. She prayed fervently that she might be able to keep the knowledge to herself forever, safely hidden from the fond old man who believed in her. Fate would decide. x For hours she sat in a little room over the bank, listening to the persistent clamorings below for gold. How much longer could it go on? “Not much longer!” John Rivers said dejectedly to his suffering niece. “Not 'much longer, Elsie, my girl. They must have paid It nearly all out by now. Soon they will have to close the doors. Don’t cry, child. It is the will of Providence, I suppose; but it’s hard to get such a blow as this at my time of life!”

Presently there wore sounds of cheering in the street. A well-known millionaire had driven up to the bank. “My God!" muttered the old banker. “This is the last straw! Reginald Fairfax lias turned agaiust me with the rest; when he has withdrawn his money there won’t be a penny left!” "Go aud see him, urcle,” Elsie pleaded. “He Is so rich he might be persuaded to leave it." “No, child. «I could not speak to him or anyone else to-day.” “Then I will, uncle. Oh, do go and send him here to me! I must see him! Reginald will save us!” John Rivers went blindly out, and Elsie waited for Reginald Fairfax to come to her. Twice this self-made man had asked her to marry him; twice she had refused. He was rich, but he was also coarse. Life with him would be a nightmare, she had always told herself. She did not love him. But now

ne was standing there in front of her, loudly dressed, and looking more commonplace and vulgar than ever. How could she appeal to tills boorish perveuu? She must, though; she had worked the mischief, and she must right It if possible. At the end of another five minutes she was telling him everything—all about her brother and her selling the news of the robbery to the editor. He listened In silence. She humbled herself to the dust before him, and begged him not to withdraw 7 his money from the bank. He smiled queerly. “Y’ou twice asked me to be your wife,” she wound up, feverishly, “and I refused you. Would you still marry me, Mr. Fairfax! Oh, do answer! If I said ‘yes,’ would you still marry me?” The smile broadened. “Am I to understand that you are proposing to me, Miss Maitland?” he asked. “Don’t seek to humble me any more; don’t, don’t!” she cried. “I have fallen far enough!” “Yes,” he said; “it must indeed be a terrible fall for the proud Miss Maitland to offer herself to me! Y’ou offer to become my wife if I will only leave my money In your uncle’s bank. Considering that | love you—and that you love someone else —it Is rather hard on me, isn’t it?” “Oh, don’t, don’t! If you only knew how 7 1 loathe myself for having said all this to you! You are quite right to refuse me. How dare 1 ask you—or any man—to take’ me under such conditions? You are quite right to refuse me.”

“I don’t know," he answered, slowly. “If you did not love another man already It might have been different. But as It Is—yes, I certainly won’t marry you, Miss Maitland; you havp humbled yourself to me unnecessarily. You cannot know me very well when you imagine that I had come to withdraw my support from your uncle at such a time as this. Instead, I had merely come to place the further sum of £50,000 to my account. The public knows It already,

and the-paylng Into the bank of such A large sum has restored confidence.” Ere she had time to speak he was gone. ' But the bank was saved! The bank was saved! A man she had always despised in her heart had come forward nnd saved It. Why—why had she never been able before to see the fine nature which lurked beneath a somewhat boorish erterior? The excitement of that day was followed by a long illness for her. When she returned to life once more it was to 'find her uncle In better spirits than she could ever remember him. “All the doing of Reginald Fairfax, Elsie, my girl!” the old banker said, gleefully. “He stuck to me right through, child, when everyone else failed me, and his example saved the bank.” He had further persuaded old John Rivers to make a partner of his longtrusteAmanager. He was therefore in a position at last to ask Elsie's hand In marriage. When he asked her she answered “Yes." Some months after their marriage Elsie received another visit from her brother Harold. He was altogether a different person. He was going to America, and bad come to make a confession to her. He had sold his knowledge of their uncle and the bank to a certain gang of thieves for a large sum of money. But he had never known a happy minute since, and he had never touehed a farthing of the ill-gotten cash. He was going to America now, to start life In earnest, and when his sister asked him where he had found the necessary funds he told her that the donor was Reginald Fairfax.—Chicago TimesHerald.