Julian Hawthorne

“ Stephen had given his arm to Mrs. Allingham, and Olympia was close to his other side, and she waved her hand and kissed her fingers to him. He returned a quick, bright nod, and was gone into the shadows.
“I know it's somebody come to beg money of him, and papa doesn't want it known, and that's why he wouldn't let him come to the bank,” said Olympia. “Papa does more good that nobody knows of than any other man in town—except you, beloved.” And she laid her cheek for a moment on her lover's shoulder. ”

“ A time may come when people will be polite chiefly to beggars—as I believe is the way in India—but meanwhile, those who have or can get wealth are bound to keep or seize it, by fair means or foul. As for hypocrisy, in three cases out of five, a man is a hypocrite, not for his own sake, but for his wife and children's; they believe in him, and he can't find the nerve to undeceive them. What is wickedness, anyway? It's just a bad name for doing the best we can for ourselves; and that's instinct!”
“Then don't you think criminals ought to be punished, papa?” asked Olympia. ”

“ It is an old and a true wisdom that confesses that the path to good is never closed to man, and that in the deepest temptations he is wooed, by all means that do not involve his freedom of action, to take it. Love and honor wooed Allingham during that evening, and the day following. It seemed as if Olympia had never clung so close to him, had never expressed such trust in him and pride in him ”

“ The first impression was of an unwelcome discordance; the final one was of the deliberate profanation of good, and mockery of truth. And, doubtless, though a man may dwell long in the mere imagination and histrionics of the unlawful, a time will arrive when the facile dream stiffens into unchangeable reality, and the beguiling slave changes abruptly into the master.
Allingham's bidden guest was a sturdy man of middle height, with a powerful head and face and dark auburn, short-curling hair. ”

“ But I could tell you of a banking man, as it might be yourself, being caught like you are, gets a young clerk of his to grab a few hundreds, and skip over to Canada. The bank gives out he got into them to the tune of as many hundred thousand, the directors pony up, and the clerk is taken care of. That's one way. But if your Mr. Calverly isn't that kind of a sport, it wouldn't work.”
“And it counts for nothing, from your point of view, that the plan involves the ruining of a clerk; whereas mine only gives a crook another opportunity to be crooked?” added Allingham, sarcastically. ”

“ There are never many people strong enough to turn from anything that really tempts them; when there is constant temptation, there will be more yieldings than usual, but not on that account more intrinsic wickedness, do you think? We are passing through a phase of growth, which always weakens temporarily; but experience will cure it.”
“Well, it's no new philosophy that society stimulates crime in the individual,” rejoined Allingham. “The strong men must come out on top; what is the real top, is the question. ”

“ The cashier reddened painfully, but the intensity of his feeling gave him power to go on. “Please don't be offended, Mr. Allingham; I meant no disrespect or impertinence. The one satisfaction I can have in this world is to be of service to you and yours. Let me pay in this small sum to the credit of the bank. It can do no harm, and it might—it might——'”
Allingham interrupted with his mocking laugh; but he saw that the time had come when he must lie, not merely constructively or indirectly, “There, but precisely and definitely. you're a good fellow, and I appreciate it, and all that,” he said ”

“ For getting found out shows a weakness in them somewhere; and weakness is unforgivable. We're like a pack of wolves; as soon as one of us is wounded, the others tear him to pieces.”
“You are very radical!” said Stephen, encountering the other's eyes, and gradually smiling.
“Oh, it's terrible!” lamented Mrs. Allingham. “I really think, James, you ought not to jest in that way in the presence of young people. You confuse their ideas of right and wrong.”
Olympia arose and kissed her father, and stood beside him, looking down on him with radiant confidence, her arm around his neck. ”

“ Allingham survived his honors and prosperity three years more; he seemed a very old man when he died. When death came, he met it with a smile that was almost a laugh. His wife and daughter are still living, much devoted to charities. Calverly calls on them occasionally; they see very little of society. In Olympia's room are pictures of her father and of Stephen Bentinck, and she always keeps fresh flowers blooming before them. ”

“ The bank has been engaging in large enterprises lately, and I can understand your uneasiness, but we have been especially favored by—well—in some very high quarters indeed, and to-day we are in better shape than we have ever been before. I don't say we're safe, simply; I say we're absolutely invulnerable. Look here, Calverly, I ought to be fired out of office for taking you into my confidence like this—even the directors don't know the facts—so I'm at the mercy of your discretion! But that face of yours makes me really unhappy. ”

“ The community is like the body: when the disease appears on the surface, it is uglier to look at, but less deadly than internal lesions. There is more hope of curing them.”
“Oh, that's a sagacious doctrine,” laughed Allingham. “The worse we appear, the better we are! That ought to satisfy both sides. Quite diplomatic!”
“Don't mind him, Stephen,” said Olympia, with the confident optimism of girlhood. “Nobody hates deception so much as papa. He even likes to pretend he's bad when he's good.”
“Wealth is a new thing with us,” Stephen continued ”

“ Good-bye, Calverly. I've always thought you a poor, feeble creature, and despised you. But some power, greater than we are, has given it to you to put me to shame and crush me down. You're quite right about it all. I'm glad you found me out, too. It's a comfort to have one human being know that I'm a hypocrite, and a coward, and a scoundrel. I'd have gone cracked, otherwise, I believe. Good thing that you're going to stay in town. I shall look you up once in a while, just to feel that you know me still. Yes, it'll be a hard job to keep that halo of mine in commission ”

“ But before he could do this, Allingham had passed out of hearing.
On reaching home, he let himself in softly, and went to his room. For some hours he was wakeful, thinking of the immediate future, and preparing the rôle he would have to play. There would be much vain hue and cry, meetings of the directors, great sympathy and condolence; finally, reorganization, and himself as president once more. It would be rather amusing. Then, in the Fall, Olympia's wedding. ”

“ Do you think I look so soft?”
“That isn't the trouble with your kind, Mr. Allingham,” replied Gunn. “I've seen some of your sort before. When you go crooked, the danger is of your going too far—until you get used to it. Is this your first job?” ”

“ But in the same moment his brow was clear again.
“That's all right,” he said. “Take him into the study. I'm coming.”
“These business people ought to see you in your office, and not come after you here,” Olympia declared. “You belong to us, here; we don't go bursting into your office, and disturbing you there.”
“Oh, this man is a special case,” replied her father, taking her hand and patting it. “It wouldn't do to have him seen around the bank. He's a great financial genius; if our credit were to go down, he's the man to restore it. ”

“ Was that job at the bank accomplished yet? On an impulse of characteristic audacity, he determined to go home by way of the bank—it was not much further—and have a look at the building. He turned down Webster street, and soon came to the northeast corner of Walton. A man was walking rapidly away from him, down the side street from the bank. It was Dexter Gunn, but Allingham could not recognize him at that distance. Had Gunn happened to walk in the other direction, the two men would have met, and Gunn was in a murderous mood. But fate had arranged things otherwise. ”

“ There's been no harm done here.”
Stephen, confident in his skill as wrestler and boxer, stepped warily forward. Then he saw Gunn's hand move toward his pistol pocket, and leaped at him. They strained together for a few moments; Gunn was far the stronger, but Bentinck had the science of the game. There was a sudden twist and whirl, and the burglar was down, with Bentinck on top of him. His hands were on Gunn's windpipe; and the latter, at the same moment, saw Calverly rising unsteadily to his feet. Gunn's right arm, as he fell, had been twisted under his back. ”

“ Allingham,” said Gunn, some overt insolence creeping for the first time into his tone, as he folded his hands before him, and held his cigar between his teeth, “if you measure the bank-presidents and the bank-burglars up against each other, I don't know but what you'd find, of the two sorts of crooks, that the bank-presidents were as bad as the burglars, and a good bit meaner and more cowardly. We do our jobs, under the noses of the cops, and we keep ourselves to ourselves, or we get jugged, as may be ”

“ I shall deny it, and it will be the word of Dexter Gunn, expert bank-burglar, against bank-president James Thorpe Allingham's, the most respected citizen of Pennborough. On the other hand, we can be of use to each other. ”

“ Allingham?”
The banker hated the formal address; he would have liked his companion to call him “Jim,” and slap him on the shoulder; yet he was a man with whom no one had ever ventured to take a liberty. But he was tuned to other music now.
“I want you to rob the Roystone Bank!” he said, letting his voice out harshly.
“Steady!” said Gunn, coldly. “We don't shout in our profession. You'll find etiquette everywhere, Mr. Allingham. I follow my business; but I try to be respectable, in my way. I do what's necessary—no more and no less. I know a little about banks and bankers ”

“ It divides us into a few giants among a lot of pigmies. But when the novelty has worn off, nobody will care to be a giant, and then the temptation to try to become one, which causes more than half the crimes, will be gone. ”

“ Gunn assented with a movement of the lips. “What about the details?” he added.
“I'll give you keys to the doors of the building, and I'll see that the night-watchman is out of the way. You must look after the policeman on the beat yourself; he's an Irishman. The safe you must tackle for yourself; the worse you wreck it the better. ”

“ Calverly entered. He said, with some hesitations and embarrassed hiatuses, that he cared more for the honor and credit of the bank, and of those concerned with it, than for anything else; that his salary was more than sufficient for all his wants ”