“I want you at the bank to help straighten matters,” the judge said, after lunch, to Herbert, who made a wry face, for he was intending to call on Louie and forestall Fred, if possible, and keep him from being alone with Louie.
But there was no help for it, and in rather a bad humor he accompanied his father to the bank, where they found a few people re-depositing what they had drawn out the day before, and looking ashamed as they did it. Godfrey Sheldon was not among the number. His grievance at not having received an invitation to the party was not at all diminished, but rather increased by the Gibsons, who had lost no time in reporting the grand affair to their less fortunate neighbors. “Such a perfectly lovely time, with everybody there but you,” they said. “Strange you were not invited. There must have been a mistake.”
The Sheldon girls knew there was no mistake, and their resentment grew as they talked of the affair at dinner, and asked their father if he was going to return his money to the “White Bank.
“Not if I know myself,” was his reply, as he went out to harness his horse preparatory to driving into town, where his first call was at Grey’s Bank. “No, sir! Not a red of my money shall ever see the inside of White’s Bank again,” he said to Mr. Grey, who asked if he wished to return it. “If my girls are not good enough for an invite, my money is not good enough for his bank, and I shall leave it here. It is a big sum not to be drawing interest, but my wife has got it into her head that savings banks are going to burst, and if it wasn’t here she’d be hidin’ it all over the house. So I shall leave it here till I get a good investment on bond and mortgage for part of it, anyway. She hain’t no fear of your bank, and I hadn’t none of White’s. ’TwanO’t for that I took it out, and I’d no idea of a run. But the old thing was game, wasn’t it? I don’t see how it stood so square, do you?”
Mr. Grey only smiled and said he was glad it did stand, and thanked Mr. Sheldon for his confidence and big deposit, and hoped it would be safe with him. The story of Louie’s part in the run had not yet become known, and Mr. Grey did not wish to be the first to tell it. He was satisfied and pleased with the large amount of money left with him, and the trust reposed in him, and once when alone in his rear office, he buried his face in his hands and whispered:
“Keep me from temptation and sin!”
He had not yet seen the judge, but when a little later the latter appeared, and with his old pomposity ascended the steps, he went to the door with a cheery good-afternoon, which was returned civilly, but hastily. The judge was in a hurry to know how he stood, and how many “dumb fools” had left their money in Grey’s Bank. There were more than he supposed, and his face grew cloudy as he said to his cashier:
“We couldn’t stand much of a run without help to-day, could we? But that money from New York, due to come on the next train, will fix us up straight. Here, you, Herbert, look over the books and see just how much has gone to that man Grey.”
Herbert was not in a very good mood to look over books. He had greeted his prospective fatherin-law very cordially, but had felt a little twinge of conscience, knowing he ought to be honest and outspoken and say to him: “I have asked Louie to be my wife, and she has consented.”
He was in a great hurry to get to Louie, and while looking over the books kept wondering if Fred were there with her, or would he give up the call after what had been told him.