that "some folks would soon learn what was what, and no mistake."

At length the thunderbolt fell. Returning from school one day, I found
Kate in tears.

"Oh, Roger!" she burst out. "They say father has stolen money from
Holland & Mack, and they have just arrested him for a thief!"

The blow was a terrible one. I was but a boy of fourteen, and the news
completely bewildered me. I put on my cap, and together with Kate,
took the first horse car to Newville to find out what it all meant.

We found my father in jail, where he had been placed to await the
action of the grand jury. It was with difficulty that we obtained
permission to see him, and ascertained the facts of the case.

The charge against him was for raising money upon forged cheeks, eight
in number, the total amount being nearly twelve thousand dollars. The
name of the firm had been forged, and the money collected in New York
and Brooklyn. I was not old enough to understand the particulars.

My father protested his innocence, but it was of no avail. The forgery
was declared to be his work, and, though it was said that he must have
had an accomplice to obtain the money, he was adjudged the guilty
party.

"Ten years in the State's prison." That was the penalty. My father
grew deadly white, while as for me, my very heart seemed to stop
beating. Kate fainted, and two days later the doctor announced that
she had an attack of brain fever.