It struck Grant as strange that his fellow waiter, though he received five dollars a day, never seemed to have any money on hand. More than once he had borrowed a couple of dollars of Grant, which, however, he always repaid.
“What can he do with his money?” thought Grant. “He gets very little chance to spend it, for he is confined in the restaurant from twelve to fourteen hours a day.”
The mystery was solved when, one night, he saw Benton entering a notorious gambling saloon not far from the restaurant.
“So that is where he disposes of his money,” reflected Grant. “I wish I could venture to give him a hint. But probably he would pay it no attention, as I am a boy considerably younger than he.”
159He did, however, find occasion for speaking soon afterward.
“Have you ever been to the mines, Mr. Benton?” he asked.
“No.”
“Don’t you ever expect to go?”
“I would go in a minute if I had money enough.”
“I should think you might save money enough in a month or two. You get good pay.”
“It’s tiresome saving from one’s daily pay. I want to make a strike. Some day I shall. I might win five hundred dollars in the next week. When I do I’ll bid the old man good-by, and set out for the mines.”
“I believe in saving. A friend of mine, now in San Francisco, warned me to keep clear of the gambling-houses, and I would be sure to get on.”
Albert Benton regarded Grant suspiciously.
“Does the boy know I gamble, I wonder?” he said to himself.
“Your friend’s an old fogy,” he said, contemptuously.
160“Don’t you think his advice good?”
“Well, yes; I don’t believe in gambling to any extent, but I have been in once or twice. It did me no harm.”
If he had told the truth, he would have said that he went to the gambling-house nearly every evening.
“It’s safest to keep away, I think.”
“Well, yes, perhaps it is, for a kid like you.”
No more was said at the time. But something happened soon which involved both Benton and his associate.
Mr. Smithson, the proprietor, began to find that his receipts fell off. This puzzled him, for it appeared to him that the restaurant was doing as good a business as ever. He mentioned the matter to the senior waiter.
“Benton,” said he, “last week I took in fifty dollars less than usual.”
“Is that so?” asked Benton indifferently.
“Yes; I can’t understand it. Has the trade fallen off any, do you think?”
“Really, I can’t say. It seemed about the same as usual—that is, the number of customers did.”
161“So it seemed to me.”
“Perhaps they ordered less. Now I think of it, I feel sure that they did.”
“That might explain it partially, but not so large a falling off.”
“I suppose you haven’t thought of any other solution of the question?” said Benton, slowly scrutinizing the face of his employer.
“Have you?”
“Well, sir, I have, but I don’t like to mention it.”
“Out with it!”
“I don’t know anything, sir.”
“If you suspect anything, it’s your duty to tell me.”
“Well, perhaps it is, but I might be doing injustice to Grant.”
“Ha! what has Grant to do with it?”
“Nothing that I know of.”
“Good Heavens, man, don’t tantalize me in this way. What do you suspect?”
“Well, sir, the boy always appears to have money.”
“He seems to be economical, and I pay him well. That counts for nothing.”
162“No, sir, but—some one told me that he had seen him entering a gambling-house on the street.”
“Ha! that would account for his needing a good deal of money. By the way, do you ever enter such places?”
“I have entered out of curiosity, sir,” answered Benton, with a burst of candor. “I wanted to see what they were like.”
“Better keep out of them altogether.”
“No doubt you are right, sir.”
“But about the boy—have you ever seen him take anything from the drawer?”
“I couldn’t be sure of it, but once when he was alone I entered suddenly, and saw him near the drawer. He flushed up and came away in a hurry. I couldn’t swear that he took anything.”
However, Benton’s tone implied that he felt sure of it all the same, and so it impressed Mr. Smithson.
“Did you have any recommendations with Grant?” inquired Benton, in an insinuating tone.
............