CHAPTER XIX.
REINSTATED AND ARRESTED.
TOTALLY unconscious of the storm arising so rapidly on his horizon, andthe evidence that was being accumulated to prove him a thief, MylesManning journeyed homeward that Saturday night in a comparativelycheerful frame of mind. Although he could not believe that his friend’spromised interview with Mr. Haxall would do the slightest good, orcause the city editor to take him back on the paper, still it wascomforting to think that so powerful a friend was interesting himselfin his cause.
Why he thought of the old gentleman as a powerful friend he could nothave told, for in fact he knew almost nothing about him. They had onlymet two or three times, and the other had so evidently avoided anyreference to himself or his own affairs, that Myles felt it would beimpolite to ask any questions concerning them. He knew that his namewas Saxon, that he was a graduate of X—— College, and that he was aparticularly pleasant old gentleman to meet, but this was about all. Soit now happened that, as he speculated concerning his friend, he wassurprised to find how little knowledge he had of him.
“He must be a man of influence, though, and connected with someextensive business, if he employs men by the thousand, and of course,if he wants to, he can give me work of some kind,” thought Myles.
In his present frame of mind he would gladly have accepted almost anyposition in any line of business. He would rather it would be newspaperwork than any thing else. At the same time he hated the thought ofworking on any paper except the _Phonograph_.
“If they would only give me one more trial there!” he said to himself.“I shouldn’t care how or why they took me on again; I’d soon make themwant to keep me for myself alone. Of course it would not be half sopleasant to have Mr. Haxall persuaded to try me again as to have him doso of his own free will; but I don’t suppose any thing except influencewould get me back there again now. Well, Monday will soon be here, andthen we’ll see what will happen.”
In the little cottage that was now the home of the Manning familyMyles found his mother sitting up and waiting for him. She held thefront-door open as he reached it, and, after kissing him, and warninghim not to make any noise that would wake his father, she said: “Godbless you, my boy! we are all just as proud of you as we can be. Now goto bed, dear, for it is very late, and to-morrow we will have some nicelong talks.” There was not a suspicion of blame or of disappointmentin her tone or manner, and Myles went to his room with a very tenderfeeling toward those who loved and trusted him so implicitly.
The next day they did have nice long talks, all of which ended in theirtaking the very brightest and most cheerful view of things. Kate pinnedher faith to the “Oxygen gentleman.” “I don’t know why,” she said, “butsomehow I feel sure he will do something splendid for you, Myles. Evenif he shouldn’t, we have my plan of working together to fall back on;and the more I think of it the more I am inclined to believe we shouldmake it succeed.”
Mr. Manning listened to the several conversations without taking a veryactive part in them; but once, when he and Myles were alone in theroom, he said:
“You are learning one of the most difficult lessons of life, my son;but you seem to have set about it manfully, and I believe you willfinally master it. When you do, you will have acquired a knowledge ofinfinite value. I mean a knowledge of self-control, self-reliance, andstrict obedience to the orders of your own conscience.”
Thus, in spite of the fact that he was wellnigh penniless and out ofwork, with no certain prospect of obtaining any sort of a position,Myles returned to the city, that bright autumn Monday morning, full ofhope and determination.
“I will have some sort of a place, as good if not better than the oneI have lost before I come home again! See if I don’t!” was his mentalexclamation.
He went first to his lodgings. There the landlady informed him that agentleman had called only a few minutes before, who said he wished tosee him on important business, and had seemed greatly disappointed whentold that he was out. He had offered to wait, but she told him he wouldbe more likely to catch Mr. Manning at the Phonograph office thananywhere else, and that he had better wait there.
“Didn’t he leave any message?” asked Myles.
“No; nor a card; and he wouldn’t even tell his name; for he said youwould not know any better who he was if he did, but that he’d meet yousomewhere during the day.”
“I only hope he may,” said Myles, as he started up-stairs, “but I don’tthink it is very likely.”
“Oh, Mr. Manning,” called the landlady, “a letter came here for you bythe mail this morning, and I laid it on your table.”
“My prospects are certainly looking up,” thought Myles, who was not inthe habit of receiving letters at any other place than the office—“aman on important business and a letter both in one morning. I wonderwho the one could have been; and who the other is from? Perhaps it isfrom Mr. Saxon.”
It was not from his old gentleman friend, however, but was from Mr.Haxall, and was written in the _Phonograph_ office on Saturday evening.It was of such an astounding nature to Myles that he could hardlybelieve he was reading it aright when he first glanced over itscontents. Again he read it through, and again, to make sure that therecould be no mistake as to its meaning. Then he uttered such a shout ofjoy as startled his landlady in the distant, lowermost depths of thehouse. The letter was as follows:
MY DEAR MR. MANNING:
I want you to come back to the _Phonograph_ and report for duty as usual on Monday morning. If, during our interview of to-day, I seemed unnecessarily harsh or unjust, you will please lay the blame to my position rather than to myself. I cannot go beyond the rules of the office, which oblige me to take such action as I did in your case. You were undoubtedly guilty of a neglect of duty; but I am well satisfied that such a thing will not happen again in your case. Although you failed us in that single instance, your subsequent course was such as reflects great credit upon this paper, and I am convinced that you are one of the staff with whom we cannot afford to part. Therefore, if you will return at a salary of $25 per week, or, if you prefer it, on space, you will be cordially welcomed by
Yours very truly,
JOSEPH HAXALL,
City editor, the _Phonograph_.
“Glory hallelujah!” shouted Myles. “Go back? Of course I will! As aspace man too. Well, if Joe Haxall isn’t a trump then I’m no judge. Hecertainly is the most just and honorable man I know. I’d just like tohear anybody say a word against him in my presence.
“Mr. Brown, I’ll thank you for that key again if you please, sir.
“Yes, Myles Manning, your fortune is made, and you have come out ofwhat looked like a pretty ugly fix with flying colors.
“My, but I’m glad that letter was written on Saturday, before therewas a chance for any influence being used to get me back. How cheap afellow must feel who, after once losing a job, only gets taken backthrough influence.”
So thinking, and hardly able to contain himself for joy, Myles gatheredtogether the papers he had brought away from the _Phonograph_ officeand prepared to carry them back to it. In his own happiness he did notforget the anxiety of those at home, and his first care upon leavingthe house was to hunt up a telegraph station. From it he sent a messagecontaining the joyful news to his mother. Then he hurried down town.
When he entered the city-room of the _Phonograph_ Mr. Brown handedhim the key to his desk as a matter of course. Mr. Haxall looked upfrom the reading of his morning papers long enough to shake handswith him and welcome him back. Nobody else knew that only two daysbefore he had been dismissed in disgrace. The other reporters, mostof whom supposed he had just returned from Mountain Junction, crowdedabout to congratulate him upon the manner in which he had saved thetrain with the 50th Regiment on board, and to ply him with questionsas to the details of that affair. To those who considered that he hadsnubbed them on Saturday he made ample apologies, and explained thathis apparent rudeness was caused by a piece of bad news of which he hadth
en just heard.
The first to learn of and congratulate him upon his new prospects washis stanch friend Rolfe, who had that morning returned from Chicago,and who, while shaking hands with him, said:
“Now, old fellow, you will have a chance to show what you are madeof. As a space man you will reap an instant pecuniary reward fromevery successful effort you make, exactly as any man does who is inbusiness for himself. You also occupy the curious position that I donot believe exists except among newspaper reporters on space, of beingunder orders and at the same time able to render yourself absolutelyindependent of them.”
Myles was so happy, and the future seemed so bright and secure to him,surrounded as he was by friendly faces, that he read Billings’ telegramwith only a vague wonder as to what it could mean, and without a traceof anxiety. Ben Watkins seemed so very far away, and to belong soentirely to some remote period of his life, that Myles could only thinkof him with pity and contempt. He had it in his power to inflict aserious injury upon Ben Watkins, if he chose, by simply telling of thatscene before the safe in the superintendent’s office; but what harmcould Ben Watkins do him? None. Absolutely none. He had been guilty ofbut one wrong that Ben knew of, and that had already been amply atonedfor and forgiven.
As he reached this conclusion Myles lifted his eyes to those of astranger who stood beside him, and who asked:
“Is this Mr. Manning?”
“Yes,” replied Myles, “it is.”
“Mr. Myles Manning?”
“Yes, that is my name. What can I do for you?”
“You can come with me quietly and without any fuss. I am an officer,and have a warrant for your arrest on the charge of robbing a safe inthe office of the A. & B. Railroad Company at Mountain Junction.”
“I—charged with robbing a safe!” repeated Myles, slowly, and with aface so colorless that he looked as though about to faint. “Who daresbring such a charge against me?”
“The charge is made, I believe, by Mr. Ben Watkins, assistantdivision superintendent at Mountain Junction. My instructions and thewarrant for your arrest were forwarded by his uncle, the divisionsuperintendent at that place,” answered the detective.
“Where do you want me to go with you?” asked Myles, with a wild look inhis eyes and his face still deathly pale.
“To the office of the president of the road first,” answered theofficer, evasively. He thought it as well not to say just yet that hewas instructed to deliver his prisoner to the authorities at MountainJunction, where he would probably be locked up to await trial.
“May I speak to the city editor for a moment?” asked poor Myles, whosebrain was in such a whirl at this terrible accusation that he hardlyknew what to say or do.
“Certainly you may. I’m never hard on my prisoners so long as they actdecently and behave themselves.”
This conversation had been carried on in such low tones that none ofthe other reporters had caught a word of it. They saw, however, byMyles’ face that something very serious had happened to him, and theywatched him curiously as he almost staggered toward the city editor’sdesk.
“Mr. Haxall,” he said abruptly, “that man over there is a detective,and has a warrant for my arrest on the charge of robbing a safe. Whatshall I do?”
“Eh! what’s that?” exclaimed the city editor, startled for a momentfrom his ordinary self-possession.
Myles repeated what he had said.
“But of course it is all a mistake?”
“Of course it is, sir.”
Mr. Haxall beckoned to the officer, who at once stepped to the desk.
“Don’t you think you have made some mistake, officer, and arrested thewrong person?” asked the former.
“No, sir, not if this is Myles Manning, the _Phonograph_ reporter whowas in Mountain Junction last week.”
“Will you let me see your warrant?”
“Certainly, sir,” said the officer, producing it.
“Um; this seems to be straight enough,” said Mr. Haxall, glancing overit.
“It was issued in Mountain Junction, I see.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Will the case be tried there?”
“I believe so.”
“Then I suppose you want to take Mr. Manning there?”
“Yes, sir, those are my orders; but first I am to take him to theoffice of the president of the road.”
“Well, Manning, my poor fellow, this seems to be a very seriousbusiness,” said Mr. Haxall, turning to Myles, who stood like one ina dream. “I don’t see that there is any thing for it but for you togo with this officer. You may rest assured, though, that you sha’n’twant for friends in this time of trouble. I will telegraph Billings toremain at Mountain Junction until the matter is settled. Furthermore,as this charge reflects upon the good name of the _Phonograph_, as wellas upon yours, I think I can safely say that no money will be spared toclear you of it.”
With a voice that trembled in spite of his efforts to control it Mylesthanked the city editor and turned away. He mechanically locked hisdesk and handed the key to Mr. Brown, from whom he had so proudlyreceived it but a few minutes before; then, accompanied by the officer,he walked from the room without a word to any of his fellows, who gazedcuriously and in silence after him.
A few moments later, when the story spread among them, there was ageneral burst of indignation that they had permitted such an outrageas the arrest of one of their number to take place in that room. Hadthe detective reappeared just then he would in all probability haveencountered an angry crowd of stout young fellows who would havepromptly hustled him downstairs and out of the building.
As it was, he and his prisoner were walking rapidly in the directionof Wall Street; he with a watchful eye on Myles, and Myles so full ofbewildered wretchedness as to be totally unconscious of whither he wasbeing led.
The clerks in the office of the great railroad company winked at eachother as he passed them, for they all knew the detective by sight, andsuspected that his companion must also be his prisoner. Myles however,never noticed them. He neither seemed to see nor notice any thing untilthe door of an inner office was closed behind him, and he found himselfin the presence of his old gentleman friend, with whom he had dined twoevenings before at the Oxygen Club.
He uttered a cry of amazement. “Are you Mr. Walker B. Saxon, Presidentof the A. & B. road?” he exclaimed.
“I am,” was the reply; “and you may rest assured, my dear boy, that ifI had known of this thing in time you should not have been subjectedto the mortification of an arrest. I only heard of it an hour ago,and then I did not know but what the officer had already found you. Icould only send orders to have you brought here before being taken toMountain Junction. Now sit down and tell me your side of the story, andthen we will see what can be done.”
“But I don’t even know why I am arrested,” said Myles. “It is absurd tosay that I robbed a safe. What am I supposed to have taken from it?”
“An express package sent from this office and containing one thousanddollars.”
“There wasn’t a sign of any such package in the safe,” exclaimed Myles,impetuously. “It only contained books and papers.”
An anxious look flitted across Mr. Saxon’s face at this admission.
“How do you know that?” he asked.
The full import of what he had said flashed into Myles’ mind. The bloodrushed to his face, and he hesitated a moment before asking in turn:
“Does Ben Watkins accuse me of this crime?”
“Not directly; but he intimates that you stole the key of the safe fromhis room, which amounts to about the same thing.”
“Then I am released from my promise to him,” said Myles, “and am atliberty to tell you all I know of this miserable business.”
Mr. Saxon listened with absorbed interest to the young reporter’s storyof his visit to the superintendent’s office on that eventful night, ofwhat took place there between him and Ben, of his taking possession ofthe key for safe-keeping, and of
the manner in which he sent it back.It was a long story, and when it was finished the president’s faceexpressed a decided feeling of relief. He said:
“My dear boy, I have studied your character carefully, much more sothan you are aware of, during the past four months, and I am thankfulto be able to tell you honestly that I believe every word you say. Whata very foolish thing you did, though, in taking possession of that key!It undoubtedly saved property of great value to this company, but atthe same time it placed you in the power of your enemy as no other actcould have done.”
“Yes,” assented Myles, “I see that only too plainly now.”
“But you were short of money that night?” continued Mr. Saxon.
“Yes, sir, I was.”
“And had fifty dollars the next morning? Where did it come from?”
Myles told him.
“Have you that note signed ‘A friend in need’ now?”
“No, sir; I lost both it and what money I had left after paying myhotel bill, on the night that I was trying to get back to town in timeto warn the train.”
“That’s bad. In fact, the whole combination of circumstances is themost unfortunate I ever knew. It will be very difficult to prove yourinnocence, though, of course, it will be done sooner or later. I wouldhave the charge withdrawn and the whole matter hushed up even now, butfor your sake. The accusation against you is already so widely knownthat nothing short of a public trial and triumphant acquittal can fora moment be considered. I will use my influence to have the trial comeoff at the earliest possible date, probably next week, and in themeantime I can think of nothing better for you to do than go quietly toMountain Junction with the detective, procure bail, which I will seethat you have no difficulty in doing, and spend the next few days inhunting up evidence for your own defence.”
Thus, at four o’clock that afternoon, Myles found himself once more onhis way to Mountain Junction. This time it was as a prisoner chargedwith robbing a safe and on his way to trial.