WEALTH WITHOUT WINGS. 39

 

gains, and threw them into the money-box, which
had already been placed in the fire-closet.

“What good will that do ?”’ said he to himself,
as the wave of better feelings began to subside.
‘All the sales-entries have been made, and the
cash balanced; Jasper made the balance himself.
So the cash will only show an excess to be accounted
for ; and from this may come suspicion. It is always
more hazardous to go backward than forward—
(false reasoner !\—to retrace our steps than to press
boldly onward. No, no. This will not mend the

- matter.”

 

And Claire replaced the money in his pocket. In
a little while afterward, he left the store, and took
his way homeward.

 

CHAPTER IV.

_ As on the previous evening, Mrs. Claire was
alone for some time later than usual, but now with
an anxious, almost fearful looking for her husband's
return. Suddenly she had taken the alarm. A
deep, brooding shadow was on her heart, though
she could not see the bird of night from whose
_ wings it had fallen. Frequently, during the after-
noon, tears had wet her cheek ; and when an old
friend of her mother’s, who lived in the country,
and who had come to the city in order to make a
few purchases, called to see her, it was with diffi-