"Your standing," replied I, "can have but little to do with last night's transactions. I must have the hundred dollars, even if you have destroyed the letter; and it is also important that I should recover what you have taken from the mails on previous occasions."
"You seem to be sure that you are safe in making these charges, sir," said he; "but all you have yet stated is nothing but assertion without any proof."
Just then the front door of the store opened, and a pleasant voice was heard, "Breakfast is ready, father." A sweet little child stood in the door-way, and her innocent, careless face, contrasted strikingly with the anxiety which displayed itself in the features of her guilty father. Would that her voice could have called him away from the course of villany and dishonor which he had taken!
As her father did not at once reply to her, she came skipping up to him, and as she caught hold of his hands and playfully attempted to draw him along, he looked at her and then at me, with an expression that said as plainly as words could say it,—"Have you the heart to come between us, and destroy the happiness of my innocent family?"
I felt the force of the appeal, but was impressed still more strongly with detestation of the conduct of a man who could deliberately risk involving the members of his domestic circle in misery and disgrace for the sake of enriching himself at the expense of those who had confided in his integrity.
"I can't go now, my dear," said he, withdrawing his hands from hers, "I am very busy. Run along and tell mother not to wait for me."
So away tripped little Innocence, joyfully humming a simple air, and leaving us to deal with the grim question before us.
I now commenced a search among some waste papers scattered upon the floor and one of the tables, for the wrapper in which the decoy letter had been enclosed, but I could find it nowhere. I however continued the search, hoping to find the string, if nothing else; and my perseverance was rewarded by the discovery of the package at the back part of a drawer in a desk. The package appeared to be in a perfect state, except that the string was missing. Holding it up, I inquired of the post master, "What is this package doing here?"
"It must have been thrown out by mistake in overhauling the mail last night," replied he.
I removed the wrapper, and immediately found a full confirmation of my previous assertions, for the letter itself had been broken open, and the large wafer substituted for the original seal. In fact it had been served exactly like its rifled predecessors, and was now waiting to go forward to New York by the next mail. I also observed a quantity of the large wafers lying upon the desk, a few of which I secured for the purpose of comparison. The evidence of the string now became of little importance, but I wished to find it if possible, and after a few moments' search, I discovered it lying on the floor behind the counter of the store.