The Heart of a Mystery

by T. W. Speight

"Mr. Avison, not another word is needed," broke in John, with an abrupt wave of his arm. "If those are your sentiments towards me, then, indeed, the sooner you and I part the better."

[CHAPTER XVI.]

A LETTER AND ITS REPLY.

John Brancker's abrupt departure left Mr. Avison in no very enviable frame of mind. He was thoroughly dissatisfied with John; nay, more, as he told himself, he was deeply offended with him; but none the less was he conscious of a certain sense of dissatisfaction with himself. Although he had laid such stress on the fact that the trial had failed to clear up certain points of evidence which told strongly against John, and had brought forward that fact as an excuse for getting rid of him, and although he still failed to understand how the crime could possibly have been the work of a stranger, he was possessed by a secret conviction, which the recent interview had not failed to strengthen, that John Brancker was as innocent as he, Benjamin Avison, was of any participation either in the death of Mr. Hazeldine, or in the robbery which had formed part and parcel of the mysterious affair. Therefore he was dissatisfied with himself. The scales of justice which he prided himself on holding with such an even balance in his dealings with his fellows, inclined for once a little more to one side than the other, and he was conscious that their doing so was owing entirely to his own bias in the affair.

Such thoughts were not comforting, and with a strong wrench he broke away from them. John Brancker had taken his own headstrong course, and he must abide by the consequences. "For the future, I wash my hands of him entirely," said Mr. Avison, as he touched the bell at his elbow.

The death of Mr. Hazeldine and the enforced absence of John had necessitated several changes in the Bank staff. Such changes, however, in view of John's probable resumption of his duties, had only been of a makeshift and temporary character; but now the time had come for them to be made permanent. Mr. Avison had taken upon his own shoulders a great part of the duties of his dead manager. The next clerk to John Brancker in point of seniority was a Mr. Howes, who was a protégé of Mr. Avison, and, consequently, somewhat of a favorite, although no signs of his being so had ever been detected by the rest of the staff. Mr. Howes, who had performed John's duties while the latter was in prison, was now confirmed in the position at a considerable advance of salary. When he had given expression to his thanks and was dismissed, Ephraim Judd and Frank Derison were sent for.

Mr. Avison had never liked Ephraim, although no one, except perhaps the object of his dislike, had any cognizance of the fact. The Banker, in matters of dress and personal appearance, was one of the most fastidious of men, whereas Ephraim was careless to the verge of slovenliness. His clothes were of coarse material and badly made; one collar and one pair of cuffs were made to do duty for a week; while his necktie was usually either awry, or had its ends loosely flying. Both his nails and his teeth would have repaid more attention than he chose to bestow on them, while his lank, black hair, which he wore several inches longer than is customary nowadays, only tended to accentuate the general untidiness of his appearance. All these things, each one a trifle in itself, had yet, when taken in the aggregate, an irritating effect on the nerves of Mr. Avison. Then there were those terrible ears of his, and his peculiar mode of progression--although, of course, the fellow could not help it--something between a hop and a skip when unassisted by his stick. Taking him all in all, the Banker desired to see as little as possible of Ephraim Judd.

But, on the other hand, Ephraim was one of the best of clerks, industrious, painstaking, conscientious. Mr. Avison told himself that it would never do--that it was contrary to all his principles--to allow personal prejudices to stand in the way of doing what was right by the other. It may be that he felt the more determined to deal with him in a thoroughly just spirit because he was not without his secret doubts whether that was altogether the spirit in which he had dealt with John Brancker. Accordingly, the Banker now proceeded to inform Judd that he might consider himself as being permanently installed in the position lately filled by Mr. Howes, while Frank Derison was to succeed Ephraim. A substantial increase of salary would follow in each case as a matter of course.

Both the young men were profuse in their professions of thanks, which, however, Mr. Avison deprecated with a gentle motion of his hand. Then he said: "If you can see your way, Judd, if you really can see your way to pay a little more attention to the details of your attire, and--and to your personal appearance generally, upon my word, I shall esteem it a favor." There was something that verged on the pathetic in the way he spoke. Then he added: "That will do for the present, Judd. Derison, I want a word with you before you go."

Ephraim left the room with a very red face, and a tingling sensation about his ears as if someone had soundly boxed them. Frank turned not red but white. Which of his little peccadilloes, he asked himself, was he going to be "called over the coals" about?