Argosy, Volume XXIII — Index Page, 1897 — page 160: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

730 THE BUNKEL MYSTERY. off his operatives without borrowing. His loss would be hard upon him, and it was by all odds the heaviest blow ever given to his finances. He felt like a man who had been struck down, humbled and humiliated. _ What a sweet morsel Barkpool would have to turn on his bitter tongue! His anger evaporated as quickly as it had condensed into wrath. Possibly he looked upon the poor cashier as a fellow mortal at that moment, and he might not have despised him for presuming to live upon the same earth with him. “How did this happen, Mr. Roblock?’’ asked he, his tone and manner entirely changed. ‘“The robbers, if there was more than one of them, got in through a window in the back of the building ;’’ and he narrated all the facts connected with the disappearance of the funds. ‘‘It is plain enough that the robbers had another set of keys,’’ said Mr. Gayberry, when the story was told. “‘I did not call for the keys this morning, and of course they are still here,’’ suggested the cashier. ‘‘I sent Dolph up to my chamber with them,’’ added the president, as he left the room to search for them. ‘We shall soon get at the facts,’’ said Mr. Gayberry. The magnate was gone some time, and he came back without the keys. “I keep them on a little table at the head of my bed, and I generally bring them down when I come to breakfast. I don’t find them on the table, and I am sure I did not bring them down this erie said the president, looking very much troubled. ‘‘ Dorcas!’ This call was to his wife, who was in the next room. She came into the office at once, for it connected with the library. ‘“Where is Dolph, Dorcas?’’ he asked; and the lady could not help seeing that something extraordinary had happened. ‘‘I have not seen him this morning.’’ ‘‘ Neither have I,’’ she replied. Mrs. Singerlay caused inquiries to be made at once, the result of which was that no one had seen Dolph that morning. In addition to this fact, the sweeper had found the outer side door unlocked. ‘The family searched everywhere for the bank keys, but with no success. Then it came to Mr. Singerlay’s mind, like an unwelcome nightmare, that his son had threatened to obtain the money he refused to give him in some other manner. Was the robbery of the bank the explanation of his meaning ? But the magnate said nothing. He dismissed his visitors with a promise to be at the bank in a few minutes. . Then he told the mother of the wayward boy what had occurred in the night, and from the facts drew the conclusion that Dolph had robbed the bank, and was at that moment in possession of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. The lady was the boy’s mother, and she wept as though her heart would break. ‘‘T knew that something must be done with ‘Dolph, and I said so; but we have put it off too long,’’ added Mr. Singerlay, in a subdued tone. (EON exovoy KS} — (<(0)