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[Illustration: A LONELY HOUSE. Page 40.]




                           LIVING TOO FAST;

                                  OR,

                  The Confessions of a Bank Officer,


                                  BY

                           WILLIAM T. ADAMS,
                           (_Oliver Optic_.)

         AUTHOR OF “IN DOORS AND OUT,” “THE WAY OF THE WORLD,”
                    “YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD,” &C. &C.


                            _ILLUSTRATED._


                                BOSTON:
                     LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.

                               NEW YORK:
                        CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM,
                                 1876.




                              COPYRIGHT,
                         By WILLIAM T. ADAMS,
                                 1876.


          Electrotyped by C. C. Morse & Son, Haverhill, Mass.




PREFACE.


The story contained in this volume records the experience of a bank
officer, “living too fast,” in the downward career of crime. The
writer is entirely willing now to believe that this career ought to
have ended in the state prison; but his work is a story, and he has
chosen—perhaps unhappily—to punish the defaulter in another way.
Yet running through the narrative for the sake of the contrast, is
the experience of a less showy, but more honest young man than the
principal character, who represents the true life the young business
man ought to lead. The author is not afraid that any of his young
friends who may read this book will be tempted into an “irregularity”
by the example of the delinquent bank officer, for it will be found
that his career of crime is full of remorse and positive suffering.

DORCHESTER, JULY 1, 1876.




                 CONTENTS.


                                   PAGE.


  CHAPTER I.

  GETTING A SITUATION,                11


  CHAPTER II.

  MISS LILIAN OLIPHANT,               27


  CHAPTER III.

  GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING,              42


  CHAPTER IV.

  THE ENGLISH BASEMENT HOUSE,         57


  CHAPTER V.

  LILIAN ASTONISHED—SO AM I,          72


  CHAPTER VI.

  A FAMILY JAR,                       87


  CHAPTER VII.

  A SHADOW OF SUSPICION,             102


  CHAPTER VIII.

  COMING TO THE POINT,               116


  CHAPTER IX.

  A LONELY HOUSE,                    131


  CHAPTER X.

  MY WIFE AND I,                     145


  CHAPTER XI.

  OVER THE PRECIPICE,                160


  CHAPTER XII.

  A KEEPER IN THE HOUSE,             174


  CHAPTER XIII.

  THE SECOND STEP,                   187


  CHAPTER XIV.

  THE HOUSE-WARMING,                 201


  CHAPTER XV.

  MY UNCLE IS SAVAGE,                214


  CHAPTER XVI.

  CORMORIN AND I,                    228


  CHAPTER XVII.

  PROVIDING FOR THE WORST,           242


  CHAPTER XVIII.

  BUSTUMUPS AT FIFTY,                256


  CHAPTER XIX.

  A CRASH IN COPPERS,                270


  CHAPTER XX.

  THE LAST STEP,                     283


  CHAPTER XXI.

  AN EXILE FROM HOME,                297


  CHAPTER XXII.

  CHARLES GASPILLER,                 311


  CHAPTER XXIII.

  MY CONFESSION,                     324


  CHAPTER XXIV.

  AUNT RACHEL’S WILL,                337




                           LIVING TOO FAST;

                                  OR,

                  THE CONFESSIONS OF A BANK OFFICER.




_CHAPTER I._

GETTING A SITUATION.


[Illustration]

“I DON’T wish to stand in your way, Tom Flynn.”

“And I don’t wish to stand in your way, Paley Glasswood,” replied Tom,
with a refreshing promptness, which was intended to assure me, and did
assure me, that he was my friend, and that he was unwilling to take any
unfair advantage of me.

Tom and myself were applicants for the situation of discount clerk
in the Forty-ninth National Bank of Boston. We had submitted our
applications separately, and each without the knowledge of the
other. If we had taken counsel together before doing so, possibly
some sentimental outbreak would have prevented one or the other from
placing himself even in a seeming attitude of competition with the
other. We had been schoolmates in Springhaven, had been cronies,
and agreed as well as boys usually do. It is true he had given me a
tremendous thrashing on one occasion, when I ventured to regard myself
as physically his equal. Though I could not quite forgive him for the
drubbing he gave me, I did not respect him any the less. While we were
good friends, as the world goes, I was sometimes rather annoyed by the
consciousness of being slightly his inferior.

Tom was always a little ahead of me in scholarship, and always
contrived to come out just in advance of me in every thing in which we
were brought into real or fancied rivalry with each other. Still he
was never so far before me as to shut me out of the sphere in which he
moved. But in spite of my repeated partial defeats, I regarded myself
as fully his equal. Perhaps my vanity assured me that I was slightly
his superior, for, like the rest of the world, I was human then, as I
have unfortunately proved myself to be since. I was tolerably sure that
in the great battle of life which all of us are compelled to fight, I
should come out all right. When it came to the matter of business, I
was confident that I should outstrip him.

Both of us had been graduated at the Springhaven High School, with the
highest honors, though as usual Tom was a little higher than myself,
for while he received the first diploma, the second was awarded to me.
Tom was my friend, and always treated me with the utmost kindness and
consideration, but I could not help feeling just a little stung by his
superiority; by his continually coming out about half a length ahead
of me. Springhaven is not so far from the metropolis of New England as
to be regarded as a provincial town; and though engaging in business
anywhere except in the great city was not the height of his or my
ambition, Tom had gone into a store in his native place, and obtained
his earliest knowledge of the ways of the world. But when he was
twenty-one he obtained a situation in an office in the city in which
he received a salary of six hundred dollars a year.

Again, at this interesting period of life which seems to be the
beginning of all things to a young man, Tom was ahead of me, for I
had gone to the city as a boy of sixteen, and when I was of age, my
employers refused to give me over five hundred a year. Tom had been
lucky—this was my view of the case. Tom had blundered into a good
situation, and it was no merit of his own. I deserved something better
than I had, and it was only the stupid and stingy policy of the firm
which had “brought me up” that rendered my position inferior to that of
my friend.

I had one advantage over my friendly rival, however, in my own
estimation. My character was above suspicion, which could not be said
of Tom, though in the city not a word affecting his reputation had ever
been breathed, so far as I was aware. At the store in Springhaven where
Tom had served two years as a clerk, several sums of money had been
missed. There was no proof that Tom took them, but a few people in town
knew that he was suspected of the theft, especially as he appeared to
be living beyond his income. I do not believe my friend even knew that
he was suspected of the theft, but inasmuch as he was the only person
besides the two partners who had access to the safe where the money was
kept, it seemed probable to Mr. Gorham, the senior member, that he was
guilty.

It was a serious matter, and the two partners used every effort to
discover the thief. They put decoys in the safe, such as marked bank
bills, and resorted to various expedients, but it always happened
that none of these traps were ever disturbed. Though various sums
mysteriously disappeared, the decoys were never touched. Mr. Gorham
declared that Tom was too smart for him, and Mr. Welch, the junior,
never said much about the matter. At a convenient time, without
stating any reason for the step, Tom was informed that his services
were no longer required; that a change in the business rendered them
unnecessary. The junior partner retired from the firm, and the senior
carried on the store alone.

Mr. Gorham was a relative of my mother, and knowing of my intimacy with
Tom, he regarded it as his duty to inform her of the suspicions which
he entertained. My mother was shocked and appalled. Tom was the son of
one of the best men in the town, and as there was no direct proof of
the crime, it was not deemed expedient to say anything about it. Mr.
Gorham did not say anything, except to my mother, and she, appreciating
the kindness of her kinsman, faithfully promised to keep the momentous
secret. Probably there were not a half dozen persons in Springhaven who
knew that Tom left his place under suspicion, and those were the family
and intimate friends of the storekeeper.

I will not say that the knowledge of this circumstance afforded me
any satisfaction, but it helped me to feel that I was the superior
of Tom; that in being honest I had a decided advantage over him. I