Kitabı oku: «Helping Himself; Or, Grant Thornton's Ambition», sayfa 6

CHAPTER XVI – GRANT FALLS UNDER SUSPICION

In furtherance of his scheme to throw suspicion upon Grant, Willis Ford decided to make another call upon his stepmother the succeeding evening. It occurred to him that she might possibly connect his visit of the evening before with her loss, and he wished to forestall this.

“Is Mrs. Estabrook at home?” he asked of the servant.

“Yes, sir.”

When the housekeeper made her appearance he carefully scrutinized her face. She was calm and placid, and it was clear that she had not discovered the abstraction of the bonds.

“I dare say you are surprised to see me so soon again,” he commenced.

“I am always glad to see you, Willis,” she said. “Come upstairs.”

“What a pleasant room you have, mother!”

“Yes, I am very comfortable. Have you had any return of your sickness?” she asked, anxiously.

“No, I have been perfectly well. By the way, mother, I have a special object in calling.”

“What is it, Willis?”

“I want to speak to you about those bonds of yours. If you will only sell them out, and invest in Erie, I am sure you will make in six months a sum equal to several years interest.”

“That may be, Willis, but I am very timid about taking a risk. Those bonds represent all the property I have.”

Willis Ford’s conscience pricked him a little, when he heard her speaking thus of the property he had so heartlessly stolen; but he did not show it in his manner.

“What is the date of your bonds, mother?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Does that make any difference?”

“It makes some difference. Those that have longest to run are most valuable.”

“I can easily tell,” said the housekeeper, as she rose from her chair and opened the bureau drawer, in full confidence that the bonds were safe.

It was an exciting moment for Willis Ford, knowing the sad discovery that awaited her.

She put her hand in that part of the drawer where she supposed the bonds to be, and found nothing. A shade of anxiety overspread her face, and she searched hurriedly in other parts of the drawer.

“Don’t you find them, mother?” asked Willis.

“It is very strange,” said Mrs. Estabrook, half to herself.

“What is strange?”

“I always kept the bonds in the right-hand corner of this drawer.”

“And you can’t find them?”

“I have looked all over the drawer.”

“You may have put them, by mistake, in one of the other drawers.”

“Heaven grant it!” said Mrs. Estabrook, her face white with anxiety.

“Let me help you, mother,” said Willis, rising.

She did not object, for her hands trembled with nervousness.

The other drawers were opened and were thoroughly searched, but, of course, the bonds were not found.

Mrs. Estabrook seemed near fainting.

“I have been robbed,” she said. “I am ruined.”

“But who could have robbed you?” asked Ford, innocently.

“I-don’t-know. Oh, Willis! it was cruel!” and the poor woman burst into tears. “All these years I have been saving, and now I have lost all. I shall die in the poorhouse after all.”

“Not while I am living, mother,” said Willis. “But the bonds must be found. They must be mislaid.”

“No, no! they are stolen. I shall never see them again.”

“But who has taken them? Ha! I have an idea.”

“What is it?” asked the housekeeper, faintly.

“That boy—Grant Thornton—he lives in the house, doesn’t he?”

“Yes,” answered Mrs. Estabrook, in excitement. “Do you think he can have robbed me?”

“What a fool I am! I ought to have suspected when–”

“When what?”

“When he brought some bonds to me to-day to sell.”

“He did!” exclaimed Mrs. Estabrook; “what were they?”

“A five-hundred-dollar and a hundred-dollar bond.”

“I had a five-hundred and five one-hundred-dollar bonds. They were mine—the young villain!”

“I greatly fear so, mother.”

“You ought to have kept them, Willis. Oh! why didn’t you? Where is the boy? I will see Mr. Reynolds at once.”

“Wait a minute, till I tell you all I know. The boy said the bonds were handed to him by an acquaintance.”

“It was a falsehood.”

“Do you know the number of your bonds, mother?”

“Yes, I have them noted down, somewhere.”

“Good! I took the number of those the boy gave me for sale.”

Mrs. Estabrook found the memorandum. It was compared with one which Willis Ford brought with him, and the numbers were identical. Four numbers, of course, were missing from Ford’s list.

“That seems pretty conclusive, mother. The young rascal has stolen your bonds, and offered a part of them for sale. It was certainly bold in him to bring them to our office. Is he in the house?”

“I’ll go and see.”

“And bring Mr. Reynolds with you, if you can find him.”

In an excited state, scarcely knowing what she did, the housekeeper went downstairs and found both parties of whom she was in search in the same room. She poured out her story in an incoherent manner, inveighing against Grant as a thief.

When Grant, with some difficulty, understood what was the charge against him, he was almost speechless with indignation.

“Do you mean to say I stole your bonds?” he demanded.

“Yes, I do; and it was a base, cruel act.”

“I agree with you in that, Mrs. Estabrook. It was base and cruel, but I had nothing to do with it.”

“You dare to say that, when you brought the bonds to my son, Willis, to be sold to-day?”

“Is this true, Grant?” asked Mr. Reynolds. “Did you sell any bonds at the office to-day?”

“Yes, sir.”

The broker looked grave.

“Where did you get them?” he asked.

“They were handed to me by an acquaintance in Wall Street.”

“Who was he?”

“His name is James Morrison.”

“What do you know of him? Is he in any business?”

“I know very little of him, sir.”

“Have you handed him the money?”

“No, sir. I am to meet him to-morrow morning at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and pay him.”

“Why doesn’t he call at the office?”

“I don’t know,” answered Grant, puzzled. “I suggested to him to bring the bonds to the office himself, but he said he was in haste, and offered me a dollar to attend to the matter.”

“This seems a mysterious case.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Reynolds, but I think it is plain enough,” said the housekeeper, spitefully. “That boy opened my bureau drawer, and stole the bonds.”

“That is not true, Mr. Reynolds,” exclaimed Grant, indignantly.

“How did you know the bonds were offered for sale at my office to-day, Mrs. Estabrook?” inquired the broker.

“My son—Willis Ford—told me.”

“When did you see him?”

“Just now.”

“Is he in the house?”

“Yes, sir. I left him in my room.”

“Ask him to be kind enough to accompany you here.”

The housekeeper left the room. Grant and his employer remained silent during her absence.

CHAPTER XVII – THE TELLTALE KEY

Willis Ford entered the presence of his employer with an air of confidence which he did not feel. Knowing his own guilt, he felt ill at ease and nervous; but the crisis had come and he must meet it.

“Take a seat, Mr. Ford,” said Mr. Reynolds, gravely. “Your stepmother tells me that she has lost some government bonds?”

“All I had in the world,” moaned the housekeeper.

“Yes, sir; I regret to say that she has been robbed.”

“I learn, moreover, that a part of the bonds were brought to my office for sale to-day?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And by Grant Thornton?”

“He can answer that question for himself, sir. He is present.”

“It is true,” said Grant, quietly.

“Did you ask him where the bonds came from?”

“He volunteered the information. He said they were intrusted to him for sale by a friend.”

“Acquaintance,” corrected Grant.

“It may have been so. I understood him to say friend.”

“You had no suspicions that anything was wrong?” asked the broker.

“No; I felt perfect confidence in the boy.”

Grant was rather surprised to hear this. If this were the case, Willis Ford had always been very successful, in concealing his real sentiments.

“How did you pay him?”

“In a check to his own order.”

“Have you collected the money on that check, Grant?” asked Mr. Reynolds.

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you paid it out to the party from whom you obtained the bonds?”

“No, sir; I am to meet him to-morrow morning at the Fifth Avenue Hotel.”

Willis Ford’s countenance changed when he heard this statement. He supposed that Jim Morrison already had his money and was safely off with it. Now it was clear that Grant would not be allowed to pay it to him, and his own debt would remain unpaid. That being the case, Morrison would be exasperated, and there was no knowing what he would say.

“What do you know of this man, Grant?”

“Very little, sir.”

“How does he impress you—as an honest, straightforward man?”

Grant shook his head.

“Not at all,” he said.

“Yet you took charge of his business for him?”

“Yes, sir; but not willingly. He offered me a dollar for my trouble, and as I did not know there was anything wrong, I consented. Besides–” Here Grant paused.

“Well?”

“Will you excuse my continuing, Mr. Reynolds?”

“No,” answered the broker, firmly. “On the other hand, I insist upon your saying what you had in your mind.”

“Having seen Mr. Ford in this man’s company, I concluded he was all right.”

Willis Ford flushed and looked disconcerted.

“Is this true, Mr. Ford?” asked the broker. “Do you know this man?”

“What do you say his name was, Thornton?” asked Ford, partly to gain time.

“James Morrison.”

“Yes; I know him. He was introduced to me by an intimate friend of that boy,” indicating Grant.

Willis Ford smiled triumphantly. He felt that he had checkmated our hero.

“Is this true, Grant?”

“I presume so,” answered Grant, coolly. “You refer to Tom Calder, do you not, Mr. Ford?”

“I believe that is his name.”

“He is not an intimate friend of mine, but we came from the same village. It is that boy who was with me when I first met you, Mr. Reynolds.”

The broker’s face cleared.

“Yes, I remember him. But how do you happen to know Tom Calder, Mr. Ford?”

“He had a room at the same house with me. He introduced himself as a friend of this boy.”

“Do you know anything of him—how he earns his living?”

“Haven’t the faintest idea,” answered Ford. “My acquaintance with him is very slight.”

“There seems a mystery here,” said the broker. “This Morrison gives Grant two bonds to dispose of, which are identified as belonging to my housekeeper. How did he obtain possession of them? That is the question.”

“There isn’t much doubt about that,” said Mrs. Estabrook. “This boy whom you have taken into your family has taken them.”

“You are entirely mistaken, Mrs. Estabrook,” said Grant, indignantly.

“Of course you say so!” retorted the housekeeper; “but it stands to reason that that is the way it happened. You took them and gave them to this man—that is, if there is such a man.”

“Your son says there is, Mrs. Estabrook,” said the broker, quietly.

“Well, I don’t intend to say how it happened. Likely enough the man is a thief, and that boy is his accomplice.”

“You will oblige me by not jumping at conclusions, Mrs. Estabrook,” said Mr. Reynolds. “Whoever has taken the bonds is likely to be discovered. Meanwhile your loss will, at all events, be partially made up, since Grant has the money realized from the sale of the greater part of them.”

“I should like to place the money in your hands, Mr. Reynolds,” said Grant.

“But it belongs to me,” said the housekeeper.

“That is undoubtedly true,” said her employer; “but till the matter is ascertained beyond a doubt I will retain the money.”

“How can there be any doubt?” asked the housekeeper, discontented.

“I do not think there is; but I will tell you now. You claim that your bonds were marked by certain numbers, two of which belong to those which were bought by Mr. Ford at the office to-day?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Meanwhile, you and your stepson have had time to compare notes, and you have had a chance to learn his numbers.”

Mrs. Estabrook turned livid.

“I didn’t expect to have such a charge brought against me, Mr. Reynolds, and by you,” she said, her voice trembling with passion.

“I have brought no such charge, Mrs. Estabrook. I have only explained how there may be doubt of your claim to the money.”

“I thought you knew me better, sir.”

“I think I do, and I also think I know Grant better than to think him capable of abstracting your bonds. Yet you have had no hesitation in bringing this serious charge against him.”

“That is different, sir.”

“Pardon me, I can see no difference. He has the same right that you have to be considered innocent till he is proved to be guilty.”

“You must admit, sir,” said Willis Ford, “that appearances are very much against Grant.”

“I admit nothing, at present; for the affair seems to be complicated. Perhaps, Mr. Ford, you can offer some suggestion that will throw light upon the mystery.”

“I don’t think it very mysterious, sir. My mother kept her bonds in the upper drawer of her bureau. This boy had the run of the house. What was to prevent his entering my mother’s room, opening the drawer, and taking anything he found of value?”

“What was to prevent some one else doing it, Mr. Ford—myself, for example?”

“Of course that is different, Mr. Reynolds.”

“Well, I don’t know. I am honest, and so, I believe, is Grant.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Grant, gratefully.

“It just occurred to me,” said Ford, “to ask my mother if she has at any time lost or mislaid her keys.”

“Well thought of, Mr. Ford,” and Mr. Reynolds turned to his housekeeper for a reply.

“No,” answered Mrs. Estabrook. “I keep my keys in my pocket, and I have them there yet.”

So saying, she produced four keys attached to a ring.

“Then,” continued Ford, “if Grant chances to have a key which will fit the bureau drawer, that would be evidence against him.”

“Show me any keys you may have, Grant,” said the broker.

Grant thrust his hand in his pocket and drew out two keys. He looked at them in astonishment.

“One of them unlocks my valise,” he said. “The other is a strange key. I did not know I had it.”

Ford smiled maliciously. “Let us see if it will open the bureau drawer,” he said.

The party adjourned to the housekeeper’s room. The key was put into the lock of the bureau drawer and opened it at once.

“I think there is no more to be said,” said Willis Ford, triumphantly.

Grant looked the picture of surprise and dismay.

CHAPTER XVIII – GRANT’S ENEMIES TRIUMPH

It is not too much to say that Grant was overwhelmed by the unexpected discovery, in his pocket, of a key that fitted the housekeeper’s drawer. He saw at once how strong it made the evidence against him, and yet he knew himself to be innocent. The most painful thought was, that Mr. Reynolds would believe him to be guilty.

In fact, the broker for the first time began to think that Grant might possibly have yielded to temptation.

“Can’t you account for the possession of that key?” he asked.

“No, sir,” answered Grant, in painful embarrassment. “I have occasion to use but one key, and that is the key to my valise.”

“I think you had occasion to use the other,” sneered Ford.

“Mr. Ford,” retorted Grant, indignantly, “you are determined to think me guilty; but I care nothing for your opinion. I should be very sorry if Mr. Reynolds should think me capable of such baseness.”

“Your guilt seems pretty clear,” said Ford, sarcastically; “as I have no doubt Mr. Reynolds will agree.”

“Speak for yourself, Mr. Ford,” said the banker, quietly.

“I hope you are not going to shield that young thief, Mr. Reynolds,” said the housekeeper. “His guilt is as clear as noonday. I think he ought to be arrested.”

“You are rather in a hurry, Mrs. Estabrook,” said Mr. Reynolds; “and I must request you to be careful how you make charges against me.”

“Against you?” asked the housekeeper, alarmed at his tone.

“Yes,” answered the broker, sternly. “You have insinuated that I intend to shield a supposed thief. I have only to say that at present the theft is to be proved.”

“I submit, sir,” said Ford, “that the evidence is pretty strong. The boy is proved to have had the bonds in his possession, he admits that he sold a part of them and has the money in his possession, and a key is found in his possession which will open the drawer in which the bonds were kept.”

“Who put the key in my pocket?” demanded Grant, quickly.

For a moment Willis Ford looked confused, and his momentary confusion was not lost upon Grant or the banker.

“No doubt you put it there yourself,” he answered, sharply, after a monent’s pause.

“That matter will be investigated,” said the broker.

“I think the money ought to be paid to me,” said the housekeeper.

“Can you prove your ownership of the bonds?” asked the broker.

“I can,” answered Willis Ford, flippantly. “I have seen them.”

“I should like some additional evidence,” said Mr. Reynolds. “You are related to Mrs. Esta-brook, and may be supposed to have some interest in the matter.”

“What proof can I have?” asked the housekeeper, disturbed by this unexpected obstacle.

“Have you the memorandum of the broker who bought you the bonds.”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Then you had better look.”

The housekeeper searched the drawer, and produced, triumphantly, a memorandum to the effect that she had purchased the bonds of a well-known house in Wall Street.

“So far, so good!” said the broker. “It appears that besides the bonds sold you had four one-hundred-dollar bonds?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You had not parted with them?”

“No, sir.”

“They will some time be put on the market, and then we shall have a clew to the mystery.”

“That boy has probably got them,” said the housekeeper, nodding her head emphatically.

“You are at liberty to search my chamber, Mrs. Estabrook,” said Grant, quietly.

“He may have passed them over to that man Morrison,” suggested the housekeeper.

“I hardly think that likely,” said Willis Ford, who saw danger to himself in any persecution of Jim Morrison.

Mr. Reynolds noticed his defense of Morrison, and glanced at him thoughtfully.

“Mrs. Estabrook,” he said, “I am satisfied that you possessed the bonds which you claim, and I will relieve your mind by saying that I will guarantee you against loss by their disappearance. You need have no further anxiety on the subject. I will undertake to investigate the matter, which at present appears to be involved in mystery. Whether or not I succeed in solving it will not matter to you, since you are saved from loss.”

“Thank you, sir,” said the housekeeper, feeling considerably relieved; “it wasn’t much, but it was my all. I depended upon it to use when old age prevented me from earning my living.”

“I am glad you are so wise in providing for the future.”

“You won’t let that boy escape?” the housekeeper could not help adding.

“If you refer to Grant Thornton, I think I may say for him that he has no intention of leaving us.”

“Is he to stay in the house?”

“Of course; and I expect him to aid me in coming to the truth. Let me request, Mrs. Estabrook, that you discontinue referring to him in offensive terms, or I may withdraw my offer guaranteeing you from loss. Grant, if you will accompany me, I have some questions to put to you.”

Grant and his employer left the room together.

“He won’t let the boy be punished, though he must know he’s guilty,” said Mrs. Estabrook, spitefully.

“He makes a fool of himself about that boy,” said Willis Ford, disconcerted.

“He’s an artful young vagabond,” said the housekeeper. “I know he took the bonds.”

“Of course he did,” Ford assented, though he had the best of reasons for knowing that Grant was innocent.

“At any rate,” he continued, “you are all right, mother, since Mr. Reynolds agrees to make up the value of the bonds to you. When you get your money, just consult me about investing it. Don’t put it into bonds, for they may be stolen.”

“Perhaps I’d better put it into the savings bank,” said his stepmother.

“You’ll get very small interest there; I can invest it so you can make quite as much. However, there will be time enough to speak of that when you’ve got the money. Now, mother, I shall have to bid you good-evening.”

“Can’t you stay longer, Willis? I feel so upset that I don’t like to be left alone. I don’t know what that boy may do.”

“I think you are safe,” said Willis Ford, secretly amused. But, as he left the house, he felt seriously disquieted. There was danger that Jim Morrison, when he found the money which he was to receive withheld, would be incensed and denounce Ford, who had received back his evidence of indebtedness. Should he divulge that the bonds had been given him by Ford, Grant would be cleared, and he would be convicted of theft.

As Ford was leaving the house a telegraph boy was just ascending the steps. It was John Cavanagh, already referred to.

As his eyes rested on Ford, he said to himself: “Where have I seen that feller? I know his face.”

Then it flashed upon the boy that he had seen Ford at the Grand Central Hotel, in the act of giving bonds to Jim Morrison.

“It’s queer I should meet him here,” said the telegraph boy to himself. “I wonder what game he’s up to.”

Johnny was introduced into the presence of Mr. Reynolds, for whom he had a message. On his way out he met Grant in the hall. The two boys were acquainted, Grant having at one time advanced Johnny two dollars toward paying his mother’s rent.

“Do you live here?” asked the telegraph boy.

“Yes,” answered Grant.

“I met a feller goin’ out that I’ve seen before. Who was it?”

“Willis Ford, a clerk of Mr. Reynolds.”

“I seed him in the Grand Central Hotel yesterday givin’ some bonds to a suspicious-lookin’ chap.”

“You did,” exclaimed Grant. “Come right up and tell that to Mr. Reynolds,” and he seized the astonished telegraph boy by the arm.