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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
195
Tale
of
a
Banker's
Letter.
Towards
the
close
of
last
century,
or
early
in
the
present
century,
a
tradesman
of
the
better
class
carrying
on
business
in
a
certain
town
of
the
west
of
England,
which
we
shall
here
call
X----,
and
who
also
added
to
his
ordinary
business
that
of
the
agency
of
a
bank,
posted
a
bulky
letter
containing
heavy
remittances
in
notes,
addressed
to
the
Bank
of
England.
This
letter
never
reached
its
destination,
and
the
loss,
being
of
a
most
serious
kind,
was
soon
bruited
about,
and
became
the
theme,
locally,
of
general
conversation.
As
it
happened,
the
sender
was
a
man
of
strong
political
opinions,
and
having
courage
to
express
them,
there
were
many
persons
holding
opposite
views
who
not
only
regarded
him
with
feelings
akin
to
dislike,
but
were
ready
to
take
up
any
missile
which
chance
might
place
in
their
way
to
damage
their
adversary's
fair
name.
While,
therefore,
the
bank
agent
maintained
that
he
had
posted
the
letter
in
question,
insinuations
were
set
afloat
to
the
effect
that
he
had
not
done
so,
and
that
the
object
of
his
allegations
was
to
fend
off
pressing
calls
in
matters
of
account.
He
suffered
greatly
in
reputation
from
these
unsupported
stories,
though
there
was
nothing
else
in
his
circumstances
to
create
suspicion.
Time,
the
great
anodyne
of
scandal,
had
somewhat
assuaged
the
sufferings
of
the
unfortunate
banker,
and
probably
softened
the
unkind
feelings
of
those
who
had
been
disposed
to
think
hardly
of
him;
the
loss
of
the
letter
itself
had
ceased
to
attract
attention;
and
as
yet
nothing
was
heard
of
the
letter,
or
the
valuable
enclosures
which
it
had
contained.
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