THE GUARDIAN OF THE ACCOLADE
Not the least important of the force of the Weymouth Bank was Uncle Bushrod.Sixty years had Uncle Bushrod given of faithful service to the house of Weymouth as chattel, servitor, and friend.Of the colour of the mahogany bank furniture was Uncle Bushrod--thus dark was he externally; white as the uninked pages of the bank ledgers was his soul.Eminently pleasing to Uncle Bushrod would the comparison have been; for to him the only institution in existence worth considering was the Weymouth Bank, of which he was something between porter and generalissimo-in-charge.
Weymouth lay, dreamy and umbrageous, among the low foothills along the brow of a Southern valley.Three banks there were in Weymouthville.
Two were hopeless, misguided enterprises, lacking the presence and prestige of a Weymouth to give them glory.The third was The Bank, managed by the Weymouths--and Uncle Bushrod.In the old Weymouth homestead--the red brick, white porticoed mansion, the first to your right as you crossed Elder Creek, coming into town--lived Mr.Robert Weymouth (the president of the bank), his widowed daughter, Mrs.Vesey --called "Miss Letty" by every one--and her two children, Nan and Guy.
There, also in a cottage on the grounds, resided Uncle Bushrod and Aunt Malindy, his wife.Mr.William Weymouth (the cashier of the bank)
lived in a modern, fine house on the principal avenue.
Mr.Robert was a large, stout man, sixty-two years of age, with a smooth, plump face, long iron-gray hair and fiery blue eyes.He was high-tempered, kind, and generous, with a youthful smile and a formidable, stern voice that did not always mean what it sounded like.
Mr.William was a milder man, correct in deportment and absorbed in business.The Weymouths formed The Family of Weymouthville, and were looked up to, as was their right of heritage.
Uncle Bushrod was the bank's trusted porter, messenger, vassal, and guardian.He carried a key to the vault, just as Mr.Robert and Mr.
Williams did.Sometimes there was ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand dollars in sacked silver stacked on the vault floor.It was safe with Uncle Bushrod.He was a Weymouth in heart, honesty, and pride.
Of late Uncle Bushrod had not been without worry.It was on account of Marse Robert.For nearly a year Mr.Robert had been known to indulge in too much drink.Not enough, understand, to become tipsy, but the habit was getting a hold upon him, and every one was beginning to notice it.Half a dozen times a day he would leave the bank and step around to the Merchants and Planters' Hotel to take a drink.Mr.
Roberts' usual keen judgment and business capacity became a little impaired.Mr.William, a Weymouth, but not so rich in experience, tried to dam the inevitable backflow of the tide, but with incomplete success.The deposits in the Weymouth Bank dropped from six figures to five.Past-due paper began to accumulate, owing to injudicious loans.
No one cared to address Mr.Robert on the subject of temperance.Many of his friends said that the cause of it had been the death of his wife some two years before.Others hesitated on account of Mr.
Robert's quick temper, which was extremely apt to resent personal interference of such a nature.Miss Letty and the children noticed the change and grieved about it.Uncle Bushrod also worried, but he was one of those who would not have dared to remonstrate, although he and Marse Robert had been raised almost as companions.But there was a heavier shock coming to Uncle Bushrod than that caused by the bank president's toddies and juleps.
Mr.Robert had a passion for fishing, which he usually indulged whenever the season and business permitted.One day, when reports had been coming in relating to the bass and perch, he announced his intention of making a two or three days' visit to the lakes.He was going down, he said, to Reedy Lake with Judge Archinard, an old friend.
Now, Uncle Bushrod was treasurer of the Sons and Daughters of the Burning Bush.Every association he belonged to made him treasurer without hesitation.He stood AA1 in coloured circles.He was understood among them to be Mr.Bushrod Weymouth, of the Weymouth Bank.
The night following the day on which Mr.Robert mentioned his intended fishing-trip the old man woke up and rose from his bed at twelve o'clock, declaring he must go down to the bank and fetch the pass-book of the Sons and Daughters, which he had forgotten to bring home.The bookkeeper had balanced it for him that day, put the cancelled checks in it, and snapped two elastic bands around it.He put but one band around other pass-books.
Aunt Malindy objected to the mission at so late an hour, denouncing it as foolish and unnecessary, but Uncle Bushrod was not to be deflected from duty.
"I done told Sister Adaline Hoskins," he said, "to come by here for dat book to-morrer mawnin' at sebin o'clock, for to kyar' it to de meetin' of de bo'd of 'rangements, and dat book gwine to be here when she come."
So, Uncle Bushrod put on his old brown suit, got his thick hickory stick, and meandered through the almost deserted streets of Weymouthville.He entered the bank, unlocking the side door, and found the pass-book where he had left it, in the little back room used for consultations, where he always hung his coat.Looking about casually, he saw that everything was as he had left it, and was about to start for home when he was brought to a standstill by the sudden rattle of a key in the front door.Some one came quickly in, closed the door softly, and entered the counting-room through the door in the iron railing.
That division of the bank's space was connected with the back room by a narrow passageway, now in deep darkness.
Uncle Bushrod, firmly gripping his hickory stick, tiptoed gently up this passage until he could see the midnight intruder into the sacred precincts of the Weymouth Bank.One dim gas-jet burned there, but even in its nebulous light he perceived at once that the prowler was the bank's president.
