Shortly after the office opened on the following day, Simon Moore and John were disagreeably surprised by the entrance of Gilbert. He had found his witness, Tom, the boot-black, and requested him to remain outside, within call.

“What do you want here?” demanded the book-keeper, frowning.

“Has Mr. Sands returned?” asked our hero.

“No, he hasn’t,” replied Moore, with unblushing falsehood.

“I think you must be mistaken,” said Gilbert, composedly; “for I saw him getting on a street-car yesterday.”

“Then if you knew he was at home, why did you ask me?”

311Gilbert did not think it necessary to answer this question.

“I will stop and speak to him,” he said.

“No, you won’t,” said Simon Moore, roughly. “I know what you want. You want to make him believe you are innocent.”

“You are right, Mr. Moore. I do wish to convince him of my innocence.”

“I guess you’ve got cheek,” put in John. “Didn’t I find the money that was lost, in your overcoat pocket?”

“Yes.”

“That’s enough, I should say,” said the book-keeper, dexterously availing himself of this admission. “You are a witness, John, that he has confessed the theft.”

“If you twist what I say in that way,” said Gilbert, indignantly, “there is no use in my saying anything.”

“That is true enough. There is no use in your saying anything. Now, I’ve got something more to 312say. You’ve no business in this office; and the sooner you clear out the better.”

“Yes, the sooner you clear out the better,” chimed in John. “You’ve come here to get away my place; but you’d better give up trying. Mr. Sands is not such a fool as to believe you.”

“Are you going?” demanded the book-keeper, menacingly. “John, put him out.”

John advanced cautiously towards our hero, who smiled unterrified.

“Come, go out!—do you hear?” he said.

“I won’t put you to the trouble of putting me out,” said Gilbert, good-naturedly. “I’ll step out for the present.”

“And go away from here,—do you hear? Don’t you hang around the office.”

Gilbert, however, did not see fit to obey this last order. He waited in the neighborhood for Mr. Sands to arrive.

“He means to make trouble, Cousin Simon,” said John, uneasily.

“He would like to, no doubt,” responded the book-keeper; 313“but it would be very strange if Mr. Sands believed him against us.”

“Well, I hope it’ll all turn out right,” said John; “but he’s got a lot of cheek—that boy has. I wish you’d had him locked up.”

“It might have been the best plan; but I think we can carry things through. Don’t you put in your oar, or you may spoil the whole thing. Leave it to me.”

“All right, Cousin Simon.”

At the corner of Wall and New Streets Gilbert met Mr. Sands, who had come down-town, in a Broadway stage.

“I see you are on hand,” said the broker. “Have you been to the office?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What sort of a reception did you get from Mr. Moore?”

“He ordered me out.”

The broker smiled.

“Perhaps it may be my turn to order out,” he said. “Come back with me.”

314“Thank you, sir.”

Simon Moore was not over-pleased when he saw Gilbert entering the office with his employer, but he said nothing. He waited to see how the land lay.

“Mr. Moore,” said the broker, “I met Gilbert outside, and have brought him in to talk over the charge which you bring against him.”

“He has been here already,” said Moore, coldly, “and I ordered him out.”

“It appears to me that this is rather summary treatment.”

“I think I have treated him very indulgently. I might have had him arrested for theft, but I didn’t want to be too hard upon him.”

“You seem to take it for granted that he is guilty.”

“He must be. He will himself admit that the missing bill was found in his overcoat pocket; ask him, if you like, sir.”

Mr. Sands turned to Gilbert.

“It is true,” he said.

315“That is all that need be said,” said the book-keeper, shrugging ............