Jamie did come back to the bank--once. It was on a day some weeks
after this, when he was well. He had been well enough even for one
more journey to New York; the Bowdoins did not thwart him. And
Mercedes--Sadie--was at his home; so now he came to get possession of
his ward's little fortune, to be duly invested in his name as trustee,
in the stock of the Old Colony Bank. He came in one morning, and all
the bookkeepers greeted him; and then he went into the safe, where he
found the box as usual; for Mr. Bowdoin, knowing that he would come,
had taken it back.
When he came out, the chest was under his arm; and he went to old Mr.
Bowdoin, alone in his private room. "Here is the chest, sir, I must
ask you to count it." And before Mr. Bowdoin could answer he had
turned the lock, so the lid sprang open. There, almost filling the
box, were rows of coin, shining rows of gold.
Old Mr. Bowdoin's eyes glistened. "Jamie, why should I count it?" he
said gently. "It is yours now, and you alone can receipt for it, as
Sarah's legal guardian."
"I would have ye ken, sir, that the firm o' James Bowdoin's Sons ha'
duly performed their trust."
And old Mr. Bowdoin said no more, but counted the coins, one by one,
to the full number the ledger showed.
He did not look at the other page. But Jamie was not one to tear a
leaf from a ledger. No one ever looked at the old book again; but the
honest entries stand there still upon the page. Only now there is
another: "Restored in full, June 26, 1862."
* * * * *