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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Three Thousand Dollars, by Anna Katharine Green
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Three Thousand Dollars
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+Release Date: June 13, 2010 [eBook #32795]
+[Most recently updated: December 8, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ***
+
+
+
+
+THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "_Now state your problem_"]
+
+
+
+
+    THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS
+
+    BY
+
+    ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
+
+
+    AUTHOR OF
+
+    "THE LEAVENWORTH CASE," "THE MILLIONAIRE BABY,"
+    "THE MAYOR'S WIFE," "THE FILIGREE BALL,"
+    ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    BOSTON
+    RICHARD G. BADGER
+    THE GORHAM PRESS
+    1910
+
+
+
+
+    Copyright, 1909, by Richard G. Badger
+    Copyright, 1908 and 1909, by the Crowell
+    Publishing Company
+
+    All Rights Reserved
+
+    The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                      PAGE
+
+        I "Do you know what would happen to him"                  9
+
+       II "Thousands in that safe"                               17
+
+      III "How does it stand"                                    23
+
+       IV "Stenographers must be counted"                        29
+
+        V "I've business with him"                               35
+
+       VI "If I could tell you his story"                        43
+
+      VII "I'm sure that I can get them for you"                 51
+
+     VIII "I did as you bid me"                                  59
+
+       IX "'The safe door is opened,' I cried"                   67
+
+        X "I have a scheme"                                      75
+
+       XI "She will go in"                                       81
+
+      XII "A block of steel"                                     89
+
+     XIII "I am from headquarters"                               95
+
+      XIV "You do not answer"                                   103
+
+       XV "Now, if Fellows will stay away"                      111
+
+      XVI "It was not paper I meant to have"                    121
+
+     XVII "Now for my part of the bargain"                      129
+
+    XVIII "What have you done among you"                        139
+
+      XIX "So that was your motive"                             147
+
+       XX "A jewel of far greater value"                        155
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                      OPPOSITE PAGE
+
+    "Now state your problem"                                Frontis
+
+    "He transferred his attention to the door"                   38
+
+    "Grace, you have misunderstood me"                           48
+
+    "An old man was looking up at the face of a young girl"      80
+
+    "She was ignorant of his presence"                          100
+
+    "The door opened and Philip Andrews came in"                144
+
+    "'R. S. T.,' read the official"                             152
+
+    "He was even present at the wedding"                        158
+
+
+
+
+THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+"_Do you know what would happen to him?_"
+
+
+"Now state your problem."
+
+The man who was thus addressed shifted uneasily on the long bench which
+he and his companion bestrode. He was facing the speaker, and though
+very little light sifted through the cobweb-covered window high over
+their heads, he realized that what there was fell on his features, and
+he was not sure of his features, or of what effect their expression
+might have on the other man.
+
+"Are you sure we are quite alone in this big, desolate place?" he
+asked.
+
+It seemed a needless question. Though it was broad daylight outside and
+they were in the very heart of the most populated district of lower New
+York, they could not have been more isolated had the surrounding walls
+been those of some old ruin in the heart of an untraversed desert.
+
+A short description of the place will explain this. They were in the
+forsaken old church not far from Avenue A----, a building long given
+over to desolation, and empty of everything but débris and one or two
+broken stalls, which for some inscrutable reason--possibly from some
+latent instinct of inherited reverence--had not yet been converted into
+junk and sold to the old clothes men by the rapacious denizens of the
+surrounding tenements.
+
+Perhaps you remember this building; perhaps some echo of the bygone and
+romantic has come to you as you passed its decaying walls once dedicated
+to worship, but soulless now and only distinguishable from the
+five-story tenements pressing up on either side, by its one high window
+in which some bits of colored glass still lingered amid its twisted and
+battered network. You may remember the building and you may remember the
+stray glimpses afforded you through the arched opening in the lower
+story of one of the adjacent tenements, of the churchyard in its rear
+with its chipped and tumbling headstones just showing here and there
+above the accumulated litter. But it is not probable that you have any
+recollections of the interior of the church itself, shut as it has been
+from the eye of the public for nearly a generation. And it is with the
+interior we have to do--a great hollow vault where once altar and
+priest confronted a reverent congregation. There is no altar here now,
+nor any chancel; hardly any floor. The timbers which held the pews have
+rotted and fallen away, and what was once a cellar has received all this
+rubbish and held it piled up in mounds which have blocked up most of the
+windows and robbed the place even of the dim religious light which was
+once its glory, so that when the man whose words we have just quoted
+asked if they were quite alone and peered into the dim, belumbered
+corners, it was but natural for his hardy, resolute, and unscrupulous
+companion to snort with impatience and disgust as he answered:
+
+"Would I have brought you here if I hadn't known it was the safest place
+in New York for this kind of talk? Why, man, there may be in this city
+five men all told, who know the trick of the door I unfastened for you,
+and not one of them is a cop. You may take my word for that.
+Besides----"
+
+"But the kids? They're everywhere; and if one of them should have
+followed us----"
+
+"Do you know what would happen to him? I'll tell you a story--no, I
+won't; you're frightened enough already. But there's no kid here, nor
+any one else but our two selves, unless it be some wandering spook from
+the congregations laid outside; and spooks don't count. So out with
+your proposition, Mr. Fellows. I----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+"_Thousands in that safe_"
+
+
+"No names!" hoarsely interrupted the other. "If you speak my name again
+I'll give the whole thing up."
+
+"No you won't; you're too deep in it for that. But I'll drop the Fellows
+and just call you Sam. If that's too familiar, we'll drop the job. I'm
+not so keen on it."
+
+"You will be. It's right in your line." Sam Fellows, as he was called,
+was whispering now--a hot, eager whisper, breathing of guilt and
+desperation. "If I could do it alone--but I haven't the wit--the----"
+
+"Experience," dryly put in the other. "Well, well!" he exclaimed
+impatiently, as Fellows crept nearer, but said nothing.
+
+"I'm going to speak, but--Well, then, here's how it is!" he suddenly
+conceded, warned by the other's eye. "The building is a twenty-story
+one, chuck full and alive with business. The room I mean is on the
+twelfth floor; it is one of five, all communicating, and all in constant
+use except the one holding the safe. And that is visited constantly.
+Some one is always going in and out. Indeed, it is a rule of the firm
+that every one of the employees must go into that room once, at least,
+during the day, and remain there for five minutes alone. I do it; every
+one does it; it's a very mysterious proceeding which only a crank like
+my employer would devise."
+
+"What do you do there?"
+
+"Nothing. I'm speaking now for myself. The others--some of the
+others--_one_ of the others may open the safe. That's what I believe,
+that's what I want to know about and _how it's done_. There are
+thousands in that safe, and the old man being away----"
+
+"Yes, this is all very interesting. Go on. What you want is an artist
+with a jimmy."
+
+"No, no. It's no such job as that. I want to know the person, the
+trusted person who has all those securities within touch. It's a mania
+with me. I should have been the man. I'm--I'm _manager_."
+
+The hoarseness with which this word was uttered, the instinct of shame
+which made his eyes fall as it struggled from his lips, wakened a
+curious little gleam of hardy cynicism in the steady gaze of his
+listener.
+
+"Oh, you're manager, are you!" came in slow retort, filling a silence
+that had more of pain than pleasure in it. "Well, manager, your story is
+very interesting, but by no means complete. Suppose you hurry on to the
+next instalment."
+
+Cringing as from a blow, Fellows took up his tale, no longer creeping
+nearer his would-be confederate, but, if anything, edging away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+"_How does it stand_"
+
+
+"I've watched and watched and watched," said he, "but I can't pick out
+the man. Letters come, orders are given, and those orders are carried
+out, but _not by me_. I'm speaking now of investments, or the payment of
+large sums; anything which calls for the opening of that safe where the
+old man has stuffed away his thousands. Small matters fall to my share.
+There is another safe, of which I hold the combination. Child's play,
+but the other! It would make both of us independent, and yet leave
+something for appearances. But it can't be worked. It stands in front of
+a glass door from which the curtain is drawn every night. Every
+passerby can look in. If it is opened it must be done in broad daylight
+and by the person whom the old man trusts. By that means only would I
+get my revenge, and revenge is what I want. He don't trust me, _me_ who
+have been with him for seven years and----"
+
+"Drop that, it isn't interesting. The facts are what I want. What kind
+of safe is it?"
+
+"The strangest you ever saw. I don't know who made it. There's nothing
+on it to show. Nor is there a lock or combination. But it opens. You can
+just see the outline of a door. Steel--fine steel, and not so very
+large, but the contents----"
+
+"We'll take its contents for granted. How does it stand? On a platform?"
+
+"Yes, one foot from the floor. The platform runs all the way across the
+room and holds other things; a table which nobody uses, a revolving
+bookcase and a series of shelves, fitted with boxes containing old
+receipts and such junk. Sometimes I go through these; but nothing ever
+comes of it." He paused, as if the subject were distasteful.
+
+"And the safe is opened?"
+
+"Almost every week. I'm ashamed to tell you the old duffer's methods;
+they're loony. But he isn't a lunatic. At any rate, they don't think so
+in Wall Street."
+
+"I'll make a guess at his name."
+
+"Not yet. You'll have to swear----"
+
+"Oh, we're both in it. Never mind the heroics. It's too good a thing to
+peach on. Me and the manager! I like that. Take it easy till the job's
+done, anyway. And now I'll take a fly at the name. It's----"
+
+He had the grace to whisper.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+"_Stenographers must be counted_"
+
+
+Young Fellows squirmed and turned a shade paler, if one could trust the
+sickly violet ray that shot down from the once exquisitely colored
+window high up over their heads.
+
+"Hush!" he muttered; and the other grinned. Evidently the guess was a
+correct one.
+
+"No, he's no lunatic," the professional quietly declared. "But he has
+queer ways. Which of his queers do you object to?"
+
+"When his letters come, or more often his cablegrams, they are opened by
+me and then put in plain view on a certain little bulletin board in the
+main office. These are his orders. Any one who knows the cipher can
+read them. I don't know the cipher. At night I take them down, number
+them, and file them away. They have served their purpose. They have been
+seen by the person whose business it is to carry out his instructions,
+and the rest you must guess. His brokers know the secret, but it is
+never discussed by us. The least word and the next cablegram would read
+in good plain English, 'Fire him!' I've had that experience. I've had to
+fire three since he went away two months ago."
+
+"That's good."
+
+"Why good?"
+
+"That cuts out three from your list. _The person is not among the ones
+dismissed._"
+
+"That's so." New life seemed to spring up in Fellows. "You'll do the
+job," he cried. "Somehow, I never thought of going about it that way.
+And I know another man that's out."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Myself, for one. There are only seven more."
+
+"Counting all?"
+
+"All."
+
+"Stenographers included?"
+
+"Oh, stenographers!"
+
+"Stenographers must be counted."
+
+"Well, then, seven men and one woman. Our stenographer is a woman."
+
+"What kind of a woman?"
+
+"A young girl. Ordinary, but good enough. I've never noticed her very
+much."
+
+"Tell me about the men."
+
+"What's the use? You wouldn't take my word. They're a cheap lot, beneath
+contempt in my estimation. There's not one of them clever enough for the
+business. Jack Forbush comes the nearest to it, and probably is the
+one. The way he keeps his eye on me makes me suspect him. Or is he, too,
+playing my game?"
+
+"How can I tell? How can I tell anything from what you say? I'll have to
+look into the matter myself. Give me the names and addresses and I'll
+look the parties up. Get their rating, so to speak. Leave it to me, and
+I'll land the old man's confidential clerk."
+
+"Here's the list. I thought you might want it."
+
+"Where's the girl's name?"
+
+"The girl! Oh, pshaw!"
+
+"Put her name down just the same."
+
+"There, then. Grace Lee. Address, 74 East ---- Street. And now swear on
+the honor of a gentleman----"
+
+Beau Johnson pulled the rim of Fellows's hat over his eyes to suggest
+what he thought of this demand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+"_I've business with him_"
+
+
+Next day there appeared at the offices of Thomas Stoughton, in Nassau
+Street, a trim, well-looking man, who had urgent business with Mr.
+Fellows, the manager. He was kept waiting for some time before being
+introduced into that gentleman's private room; but this did not seem to
+disturb him. There was plenty to look at, or so he seemed to think, and
+his keen, noncommittal eyes flashed hither and thither and from face to
+face with restless activity. He seemed particularly interested in the
+bookkeeper of the establishment, but it was an interest which did not
+last long, and when a neat, pleasant-faced young woman rose from her
+seat and passed rapidly across the room, it was upon her his eyes
+settled and remained fixed, with a growing attention, until a certain
+door closed upon her with a sound like a snapping lock. Then he
+transferred his attention to the door, and was still gazing at it when a
+boy summoned him to the manager's office.
+
+He went in with reluctance. He had rather have watched that door. But he
+had questions to ask, and so made a virtue of necessity. Mr. Fellows was
+not pleased to see him. He started quite guiltily from his seat and only
+sat again on compulsion--the compulsion of his visitor's steady and
+quelling eye.
+
+"I've business with you, Mr. Fellows." Then, the boy being gone, "Which
+is the room? The one opening out of the general office directly opposite
+this?"
+
+[Illustration: "_He transferred his attention to the door_"]
+
+Mr. Fellows nodded.
+
+"I have just seen one of the employees go in there. I should like to see
+that person come out. Do you mind talking with this door open? I know
+enough about banking to hold up my end of the conversation."
+
+Fellows rose with a jerk and pushed the door back. His visitor smiled
+easily and launched into a discussion about stocks and bonds
+interspersed with a few assertions and questions not meant for the
+general ear, as:
+
+"_It's the girl who is in there. Not ordinary, by any means. Just the
+sort an old smudge like Stoughton would be apt to trust. Now what's
+that?_"
+
+"_Singing. She often sings. I've forbidden it, but she forgets, she
+says_," answered Fellows.
+
+"_Pretty good music. Listen to that note. High as a prima donna's. Does
+she sing at her work?_"
+
+"_No; I'd fire her if she did. It's only when she's walking about or
+when_----"
+
+"_She's in that room?_"
+
+"_Yes_."
+
+"At par? I buy nothing at par. _There! She's coming. I wish I dared
+intercept her, rifle her pockets. Do you know if she has pockets?_"
+
+"_No; how should I?_"
+
+"_Fellows, you're not worth your salt. Ah! there's a face for you, and I
+can read it like a book. Did a letter or cablegram come to-day?_"
+
+"_Yes; didn't you see it? Hung up in the outer office_."
+
+"_I thought I saw something_. Ninety-five? That's a quotation worth
+listening to. Three at ninety-five. _That girl's a trump. I will see
+more of my lady._" Here he took care to shut the door. "I've been the
+rounds, Fellows. Private-detective work and all that. She is the only
+puzzler among the group. You'll hear from me again; meanwhile treat the
+girl well. Don't spring any traps; leave that to me."
+
+And Fellows, panting with excitement, promised, muttering under his
+breath:
+
+"A woman! That's even worse than I thought. But we'll make the old
+fellow pay for it. Those securities are ours. I already feel them in my
+hand."
+
+The sinister twitch which marred the other's mouth emphasized the
+assertion in a way Grace Lee's friends would have trembled to see.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+"_If I could tell you his story_"
+
+
+That evening a young woman and a young man sat on one of the benches in
+Central Park. They were holding hands, but modestly and with a clinging
+affection. No one appeared in sight; they had the moon-light, the
+fragrance of the spring foliage, and their true love all to themselves.
+The woman was Grace, the young man was Philip Andrews, a candid-eyed,
+whole-hearted fellow whom any girl might be proud to be seen with, much
+more to be engaged to. Grace was proud, but she was more than that; her
+heart was all involved in her hope--a good heart which he was equally
+proud to have won. Yet while love was theirs and the surroundings
+breathed peace and joy, they did not look quite happy. A cloud was on
+his brow and something like a tear in her eye as she spoke gently but
+with rare firmness.
+
+"Philip, we must wait. One love does not put out another. I cannot leave
+my old father now. He is too feeble and much too dependent on me.
+Philip, you do not know my father. You have seen him, it is true, many,
+many times. You have talked with him and even have nursed him at odd
+moments, when I had to be out of the room getting supper or supplying
+some of his many wants. Yet you do not know him."
+
+"I know that he is intelligent."
+
+"Yes, yes, that is evident. Any one can see that. And you can see, too,
+that he is frequently fretful and exacting, as all old people are. But
+the qualities he shows me--his strong, melancholy, but devoted nature,
+quickened by an unusually unhappy life--that you do not see and cannot,
+much as you like him and much as he likes you. Only the child who has
+surprised him at odd moments, when he thought himself quite alone,
+wringing his hands and weeping over some intolerable memory--who has
+listened in the dead of night to his smothered but heart-breaking
+groans, can know either his suffering or the one joy which palliates it.
+If I could tell you his story--but that would be treason to one whose
+rights I am bound to reverence. You will respect my silence, but you
+must also take my word that he needs and has a right to all the pleasure
+and all the hope my love can give him. I cannot be with him much; my
+work forbids, but the little time I have is his, except on rare
+occasions like this, and he knows it and is satisfied. Were I
+married----. But you will wait, Philip. It may not be long--he grows
+weaker every day. Besides, you are not ready yet yourself. You are doing
+wonderfully well, but a year's freedom will help you materially, as it
+will me. Every day is adding to our store; in a year we may be almost
+independent."
+
+"Grace, you have misunderstood me. I said that I was no good without
+you, that I needed your presence to make a man of me, but I did not mean
+that you were to share my fortunes now. I would not ask that. I would be
+a fool or worse, for, Grace, I'm not doing so well as you think. While I
+knew that my present employment was for a specified time, I had hopes of
+continuing on. But this cannot be. That's what I have to tell you
+to-night. It looks as if our marriage would have to be postponed
+indefinitely instead of hastened. And I can't bear it. You don't know
+what you are to me, or what this disappointment is. I expected to be
+raised, not dismissed, and if I had had----"
+
+[Illustration: "_Grace, you have misunderstood me_"]
+
+"What?"
+
+The word came very softly, and with rare tenderness. It made him turn
+and look at her sweet, upturned face, with its resources of strength and
+shy, unfathomable smile. "What?" she asked again, with a closer pressure
+of her hand. "You must finish all your sentences with _me_."
+
+"I'm ashamed." He uttered it breathlessly. "What am I, to say, 'If I had
+three thousand dollars the Stickney Company would keep me?' I have
+barely three hundred and those are dedicated to you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+"_I'm sure that I can get them for you_"
+
+
+"If you had _three thousand_!" She repeated it in surprise and yet with
+an indescribable air, which to one versed in human nature would have
+caught the attention and aroused strange inner inquiries. "Does the
+Stickney Company want money so badly as that?"
+
+"That's not it. They have plainly told me that for three thousand
+dollars and my services they would give me ten thousand dollars' stock
+interest, but insist that the man who assumes the responsibility of the
+position must be financially interested as well. But I haven't the
+money, and without the money my experience appears to them valueless. I
+despair of getting another situation in these hard times and--Grace, you
+don't look sorry."
+
+"Because--" she paused, and her fine eyes roamed about her jealous of a
+listener to her secret, but did not pierce the bush which rose up,
+cloudy with blossoms, a few feet behind their bench--"because it is not
+impossible for you to hope for those thousands. I think--I am sure that
+I can get them for you."
+
+Her voice had sunk to a whisper, but it was a very clear whisper.
+
+Young Andrews looked at her in surprise; there was something besides
+pleasure in that surprise.
+
+"Where?" he asked.
+
+She hesitated, and just at that moment the moon slipped behind a cloud.
+
+"Where, Grace, can you get three thousand dollars? From Mr. Stoughton?
+He is generous to you, he pays you well for what you do for him, but I
+do not think he would give you that amount, nor do I think he would risk
+it on any venture involving my judgment. I should not like to have you
+ask him. I should like to rise feeling absolutely independent of Mr.
+Stoughton."
+
+"I never thought of asking him. There is another way. I'd--I'd like to
+think it over. If your scheme is good--_very_ good, I might be brought
+to aid you in the way my mind suggests. But I should want to be sure."
+
+She was not looking at him now. If she had been, she might have been
+startled at his expression. Nor could he see her face; she had turned it
+aside.
+
+"Grace," he prayed, "don't do anything rash. You handle so much money
+that three thousand dollars may seem very little to you. But it's a
+goodly sum to get or to replace if one loses it. You must not
+borrow----"
+
+"I will not borrow."
+
+"Nor raise it in any way without telling me the sacrifice you must make
+to obtain it. But it's all a dream; tell me that it's all a dream; you
+were talking from your wishes, not from any certainty you have. Say so,
+and I will not be disappointed. I do not want _your_ money; I'd rather
+go poor and wait till the times change. Don't you see? I'd be more of a
+man."
+
+"But you'd have to take it if I gave it to you, and--perhaps I shall. I
+want to see you happy, Philip; I must see you happy. I'd be willing to
+risk a good deal for that. I'm not so happy myself, father suffers so,
+and the care of it weighs on me. You are all I have to make me glad, and
+when you are troubled my heart goes down, down. But it's getting late,
+dear. It's time we went home. Don't ask me what's in my mind, but dream
+of riches. I'm sure they will come. You shall earn them with the three
+thousand dollars you want and which I will give you."
+
+"I shall earn them honestly," were the last words he said, as they rose
+from the seat and began to move toward the gate. And the moon, coming
+out from its temporary eclipse, shone on his clear-cut face as he said
+this, but not on her bowed head and sidelong look. They were in the
+shadow.
+
+There was something else in the shadow. As they moved away and
+disappeared in the darkness the long, slim figure of a man rose from
+behind the bush I have mentioned. He had a sparkling eye and a
+thin-lipped mouth, and he smiled very curiously as he looked after the
+pair before turning himself about and going the other way.
+
+It was not Fellows; it was his chosen confederate in the nefarious
+scheme they had planned between them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"_I did as you bid me_"
+
+
+Another meeting in the old church, but this time at night. The
+somberness of the surroundings was undiminished by any light. They were
+in absolute darkness. Absolute darkness, but not absolute silence.
+Noises strange and suggestive, but not of any human agency, whispered,
+sighed, rattled, and grumbled from far away recesses. The snap of wood,
+the gnawing of rats, the rustling of bat wings disturbed the ears of one
+of the guilty pair, till his voice took on unnatural tones as he tried
+to tell his story to his greedy companion. They were again astride the
+bench, and their thin faces were so near that their breaths commingled
+at times; yet Fellows felt at moments so doubtful of all human presence
+that instinctively his hand would go groping out till it touched the
+other's arm or breast, when it would fall back again satisfied. He was
+in a state of absolute terror of the darkness, the oppressive air, the
+ghostly sounds, and possibly of the image raised by his own conscience,
+yet he hugged to himself the thought of secrecy which it all involved,
+and never thought of yielding up his scheme or even shortening his tale,
+so long as the other listened and gave his mind to the problem which
+promised them thousands without the usual humdrum method of working for
+them.
+
+We will listen to what he had to say, leaving to your imagination the
+breaks and guilty starts and moments of intense listening and anxious
+fear with which he seasoned it.
+
+"I did as you bid me," he whispered. "Yesterday fresh orders came from
+abroad, in cipher, as usual. (It's an unreadable cipher. I've had
+experts on it many times.) I had hung it up, and though business was
+heavy, my business, you know, I had eyes for our fair friend, and knew
+every step she took about the offices. I even knew when her eyes first
+fell on the cablegram. I had my door open, and I caught her looking up
+from her work, and what was more, caught the pause in the click-click of
+the typewriter as she looked and read. If she had not been able to read,
+the click-click would have gone on, for I believe she could work that
+typewriter with her eyes shut. But her attention was caught, and she
+stopped. I tell you I've been humiliated for the last time. I'm in for
+anything that will make that girl step down and out. What was that!"
+
+Muttered curses from his companion brought him back to his story. With a
+gulp he went on:
+
+"You may bet your bottom dollar that I watched her after that, and sure
+enough, in less than half an hour she had gone into the room where the
+safe is. Instantly I prepared my _coup d'êtat_. I waited just long
+enough to hear her voice in that one song she sings, then I jumped from
+my seat and rushed to the door, shouting, 'Miss Lee! Miss Lee! Your
+father! Your father!' making hullabaloo enough to raise the dead and
+scare her out of her wits; for she dotes on that old man and would sell
+her soul for his sake, I do believe.
+
+"Great heavens, it worked! As I live, it worked. I heard her voice fail
+on that high upper note of hers, and then the sound of her feet
+staggering, slipping over the floor, and in another moment the fumbling
+of her hand on the knob and the slow opening of the door which she
+seemed to have no power to manage. Helping her, I pulled it open, and
+there beyond her and her white, shocked face, I saw--I saw----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"_'The safe door is opened,' I cried_"
+
+
+"Go on! Don't be a fool; that was nothing."
+
+"I don't know; it was like a great sigh at my ear. But this is awful!
+Couldn't we have one spark of light?"
+
+"And have the police upon us the next minute? Look up at that window.
+You can see it, can't you?"
+
+"Yes, yes, but very faintly," Fellows whispered.
+
+"But you can see it. So could those outside, if we had one glimmer of
+light in here. No, no, you'll have to stand the dark or quit. But you
+shan't quit till you've told me what you saw in the room where the safe
+is."
+
+"The safe door opening." His voice trembled so that the other shook him
+to steady his nerves. "Not opened, mind you, but opening. It was like
+magic, and I stared so that she forgot her fears and forgot her
+questions. Turning from me with a startled cry, she looked behind her,
+and saw what I saw, and tried to push me out. 'I'll come, I'll come,'
+she whispered. 'Leave me a minute and I'll come.'
+
+"But I wasn't going to do that. 'The safe door is opened,' I cried. 'Did
+you do it?' She didn't know what to say. I have never seen a woman in
+such a state; then she whispered in awful agitation, 'Yes; I've been
+given the combination by Mr. Stoughton. I'm duly following his orders.
+But my father! What about my father? You frightened me so I forgot
+that--' I waited, staring at her, but she didn't finish. She just
+asked, 'My father? What has happened to him?' 'Nothing serious,' I
+managed to say. I wished the old father was in ballyhack. But he'd
+served his turn; I must say that he'd served his turn. 'A telephone
+message,' I went on. 'He had had a nervous spell and wanted you. I said
+that you could go home at noon.' She stood looking at me doubtfully;
+then her eyes stole back to the safe. 'You will have to leave me here
+for a few minutes,' she said. 'I have Mr. Stoughton's business to attend
+to. He will not be pleased at my having given away his secret. He did
+not wish it known who controlled his affairs in his absence, but now
+that you do know, you will be doing the right thing to let me go on in
+the way he has planned for me. His orders must be carried out.'
+
+"She is very determined, and understands herself only too well, but I
+am manager, and I paid her back in her own coin. 'That's all very well,'
+said I, 'but what proof have I that you are telling me the truth? You
+have opened the safe--you say you have the combination--but people
+sometimes surprise a combination and open a safe from other interests
+than those of their employer. You seem a good girl, but _you are a
+girl_, and there are men here much more likely to be in Mr. Stoughton's
+confidence than yourself. With that open safe before us I cannot leave
+you here alone. What you take from it I must see, and if possible be
+present at your negotiations. That I consider a manager's duty under the
+circumstances.' 'Mr. Fellows,' she asked, 'can you read this morning's
+telegram?' 'No,' I felt bound to reply. 'Then that acquits you. I can.'
+And again she tried to urge me to go out. But I would not be urged. I
+was staring across the room at the open safe and in fancy clutching its
+contents. In fact, I made one step toward them. But she drew herself up
+with such an air that I paused. She's a big girl, you know, and not to
+be fooled with when she's angry. 'Come a step farther and I will scream
+for the watchman,' she whispered. All our talk had been low, for there
+were listening ears everywhere--we couldn't risk that, and I stepped
+back. Immediately she saw her advantage, and added, 'If you do not think
+better of it and leave the room, I'll scream.' For answer to this I said
+that I----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"_I have a scheme_"
+
+
+"What?"
+
+A yell answered him.
+
+"Something hit me! Something hit me!"
+
+"Yes, I hit you; and I'll hit you again if you don't go on."
+
+Fellows shivered, attempted some puerile protest, balked, and
+stammeringly obeyed his restless and irritated companion.
+
+"I--I said--I wasn't such a fool then as I am now--that she had lied
+when she told me that she had the combination. There was no combination.
+The safe did not even have a lock. The door opened with a spring. How
+had she induced that spring to give way? I demanded to know."
+
+"And did she tell you?"
+
+"No. She merely repeated, 'I will scream, and that will cause a scandal
+which will lead to your discharge, not mine.' So--so, I came out."
+
+"Blast your eyes! And when did _she_ come out?"
+
+"Within five minutes. I watched the clock."
+
+"And what did she have?"
+
+"Nothing in sight."
+
+"I see. A deep game. But I know a deeper. There is no possibility of
+breaking into that safe by night, undetected by the watchman?"
+
+"None; and that watchman is incorruptible. The whole contents of the
+safe wouldn't move him to connect himself with this job."
+
+"The job must be done by day and during office hours?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And cannot be done without the assistance of this girl?"
+
+"You've heard."
+
+"Very well; I have a scheme. Now listen to me."
+
+Not even the rat which at that minute nibbled at Fellows's boot heel
+could have heard what followed. The panting of two breasts was, however,
+audible; and when, fifty minutes later, both crawled out of the cellar
+window among the rubbish which littered the rear of this once holy
+place, the one was trembling with excitement and the other with fear.
+They parted at the first thoroughfare, neither having eyes to see nor
+hearts to appreciate the touching scene which miles away was taking
+place in a little flat not very far from Harlem. An old man, frail in
+body, but with a sturdy spirit yet, was looking up from his pillow at
+the loving face of a young girl who was bending over him.
+
+"I cannot sleep to-night," he said to her; "I cannot sleep; but that
+must not disturb you. I have so many things to think, pleasant things;
+but you have only cares, and must rest from them. You look very tired
+to-night, tired and worried. Leave me and sleep. I want to see you
+bright in the morning."
+
+[Illustration: "_An old man was looking up at the loving face of a young
+girl_"]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+"_She will go in_"
+
+
+The next day there was a dearth of assistants in the office. One was
+sick, one had pleaded a long-delayed vacation, two had business for the
+concern which took them into different quarters of the city, and Mr.
+Beers, who was next in authority to Mr. Fellows, had been summoned to
+serve on the grand jury. Perhaps it was this knowledge that Mr. Beers
+would be absent which had led to the manager's easiness in regard to the
+others. For he had been easy, or so Miss Lee thought when she arrived in
+the morning and saw the office almost empty. However, it did not trouble
+her much. On the contrary, the quiet and non-surveillance of the two
+clerks who did the business of the day seemed rather to elate her, and
+she went about her work, copying letters and taking down notes with an
+alacrity and air of cheerful hope which caused the manager to cast
+toward her more than one suspicious look from his desk in the adjoining
+room. _He_ was not busy, though he had been the first to arrive that
+morning; and he had brought with him a large square package which he had
+taken into the room which held the safe. He pretended to be busy, but
+any one watching him closely would have noticed that his eyes, and not
+his hands, were all that were engaged, and they were anywhere but on his
+desk or the letter he appeared to be reading. An observer would also
+have noticed that his nervousness was of the extreme sort, and that the
+trembling which shook his whole body increased visibly whenever his
+glance fell on the door of Mr. Beers's private room, opening at his
+back. No one was supposed to be in that room to-day, and had Miss Lee
+not been one minute late this especial morning, perhaps there might not
+have been. But in that one minute's grace a man had entered the office
+who had not gone out again, and where could he be if not in that one
+closed room?
+
+The room which held the safe was open as usual, and many of Mr.
+Fellows's glances traveled that way. He had entered it once only since
+his first hurried visit of the early morning, but only to pull down the
+shade over the glass in the door communicating with the outside hall.
+This was his usual custom, and it attracted no attention. Why shouldn't
+he enter it again? He thought he would. A fascination was upon him. The
+problem he had given Beau Johnson to solve was to receive a test this
+day which would make him a rich man or a felon; but before that hour why
+not make his own study, his own investigation? True, he had made these
+many times before, but not with such lights to guide him. He might
+learn----
+
+But no, the very conceit was folly. He knew his own limitations, else he
+had not called in the services of this crook. He could learn nothing by
+himself, but he might look the place over and see if all was in shape
+for the great attempt. That was only his duty. Beau Johnson had a right
+to expect that of him. If the scrub woman had moved anything----
+
+At the thought that this possibly might have happened, he jumped to his
+feet and hurried into the outer office; but when he turned toward the
+room of the safe, he met Miss Lee's eye fixed upon him with such a keen,
+inquiring look that he faltered in his determination, and went in
+another direction instead. _She_ knew that he had no business in that
+room, and she also knew that he knew she knew this. Any pretense that he
+had would only rouse her suspicions, and these must be lulled to the
+point of security, or she might not enter there herself, and on her
+entering there everything depended. Almost immediately upon the thought
+he was back in his seat, and the weary moments crept on. Would she never
+make her accustomed visit to that room? No cablegram had come that
+morning, but she would find some reason for going in. Of that he had
+been assured by Johnson. Why, he had not been told. "She will go in,"
+Beau Johnson had said, and Fellows believed him. He believed everything
+the other said, otherwise he could not have gone on with this business.
+But she was very long about it. Harlowe would be coming back----
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+"_A block of steel_"
+
+
+Ah, he had an idea! It was not his own, but for the moment he thought it
+was. He would leave the office himself and thus give her an opportunity
+to quit her work and shut herself up with the safe. But--(was his mind
+leaving him?) there was something to be done first. The way must be
+cleared for the man in hiding to enter that room before she did. How was
+this to be accomplished? A dozen suggestions had been given him by his
+confederate, but he had forgotten them all. He was in too great a whirl
+to think, yet he must think; some way must be found. Ah, he had it.
+Taking up the receiver at his side, he telephoned to a German friend to
+call him up in five minutes, giving him the number of the telephone in
+the farthest room. This he did in German, telling him it was a joke and
+that he was not to insist upon an answer. Then he waited. In five
+minutes this farther bell rang. Calling to Miss Lee, he asked her to
+answer for him, saying he was very busy. As she rose, he gave a
+preconcerted signal on the door of Mr. Beers's room. As she disappeared
+in the one beyond, the dapper figure of Johnson crossed the outer office
+and slipped into the one holding the safe. A minute later she was back
+reporting the message and getting instructions, but the one thing she
+had to fear had been done; the trap had been laid, and now for its
+victim!
+
+It was not long before that victim responded to the call. On the
+departure of the manager from the room Grace Lee rose, and with a
+conscious look toward the two clerks, slipped across the floor to the
+open door of the safe room. Entering, she swung to the door, which
+closed with a snap; then, with just a moment of hesitation, in which she
+seemed to be trying to regain her breath, she passed quickly across to
+the safe and took up her stand before it. So directly and so quickly had
+she done this that she had not seen the slim, immovable figure drawn up
+against the wall at her right behind the projection of a large bookcase.
+Nor did any influence for good or evil cause her to turn after she had
+reached the safe. All her thoughts, all her hopes, all the dreams which
+she had cherished seemed to be concentrated in the blank, eyeless object
+which confronted her, impenetrable to all appearance--a block of steel
+without visible opening--an enigma among safes--the problem of all
+problems to every cracksman in town but one--which was about to be
+solved if one could judge from the thrill which now shook her, and in
+shaking her communicated the same excitement to the silent, breathless,
+determined man in her rear, watching her as the tiger watches the
+quarry, and with the same tiger spring latent in his eye. In a moment
+her secret would be out, and then----
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+"_I am from headquarters_"
+
+
+For just a minute Grace Lee paused before the blank door of the safe,
+then she passed around to an unused speaking tube in the neighboring
+wall. Halting before it, in low but distinct tones she began to sing the
+famous aria from "The Magic Flute."
+
+All agog, with eyes starting and ears alert, the man behind listened and
+watched. Nothing happened.
+
+Then came a change. Gradually her voice rose, sweet and piercing, till
+it reached that famous F in alt so rarely attempted, so exciting to the
+ear when fairly taken and fairly held. Grace Lee could take it, and as
+it hung, sweet and deliciously thrilling in the air, Beau Johnson saw,
+to his amazement, though he was in a way prepared for it, the heavy safe
+door slip softly ajar. She had done it with her voice. How, he could
+only vaguely guess. He was better educated than most of his class, or he
+could not have understood it at all. As it was, he laid it to the
+vibration caused by a certain definite note acting on some delicate
+mechanism set in accord with that note, which mechanism starting another
+and a stronger one gradually led up to that which drew the bolts and set
+the door ajar. Whether his theory were true or not mattered little at
+the moment. The event for which he waited had been accomplished and
+accomplished before his eyes. To profit by it was his next thought, and
+to this end he held himself ready for the spring which had laid latent
+in his eyes since he first saw her advance toward the safe.
+
+She was ignorant of his presence. This was evident from the jaunty way
+she turned from the tube, still singing, but in a desultory way, which
+showed that her thoughts were no longer on her music. But she was not so
+engrossed that she did not see him. The moment that her face turned his
+way, her eyes enlarged, her body stiffened, her whole personality took
+on power and purpose and _she_ sprang more quickly than he did and shut
+the safe door with one quick movement of her hand that fastened it as
+securely as before. Then she drew herself up to meet his rush, a noble
+figure of resolute womanhood which any other man would have hesitated to
+assail. But he was proof to any appeal of this kind. She had been
+quicker than he who was esteemed the readiest in his class, and he owed
+her a grudge, if only for that. Smiling--it was a way of his when deeply
+moved or deeply dangerous--he accosted her with smooth and treacherous
+words.
+
+"Don't scream, young lady; screaming will do you no good. Mr. Fellows
+has left the business to me and I am quite competent to manage it. I am
+from headquarters--a detective. Yesterday you aroused the manager's
+suspicions, and I was detailed this morning to watch you. What do you
+want from Mr. Stoughton's safe? An honest answer may help you. Nothing
+else will."
+
+[Illustration: "_She was ignorant of his presence_"]
+
+"I want----" she hesitated, eyeing him over with an insight and an
+undoubted air of self-command which told the hardy rascal that in this
+woman he was likely to meet his match. "I want some securities of Mr.
+Stoughton's which he has ordered me to dispose of for him. I am in his
+confidence, as I can prove to you if you will give me the opportunity. I
+have papers at home that will satisfy any one of my right to open this
+safe and to negotiate such papers as are designated in Mr. Stoughton's
+cablegrams."
+
+"I don't doubt it." The words came easily from the mobile lips of the
+wily Beau Johnson. "But it was not to do Mr. Stoughton's business that
+you opened the safe just now. You have had no orders to-day; you had no
+order yesterday. Another purpose is in your mind--a personal purpose. It
+is this abuse of Mr. Stoughton's confidence which brings me here. _You
+want three thousand dollars badly!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+"_You do not answer_"
+
+
+She recoiled. Strong as she was, she was not proof against this
+surprise.
+
+"How do you know that?" she asked, her voice losing its clear tone. "I
+do not deny it, but how could you know what I thought to be a secret
+between----"
+
+"You and your lover? Well--we--the police know many things, young lady.
+We have a gift. We also have a kind of foreknowledge. I could tell you
+something of your future if you will deign to listen to me. Your lover
+is an honest man. What do you suppose he will do when he hears that you
+have been arrested for attempted burglary on your employer's effects?"
+
+He had been slowly advancing as he reeled off these glib sentences, but
+he paused as he met her smile. It was not of the same sort as his, but
+it was not without a certain suggestiveness which he felt it would be
+best for him to understand before he threw off his mask.
+
+"I don't know what he will do," said she, meeting the false detective's
+eye as she laid her hand on the safe, "but I know what I shall do if you
+carry out the purpose you threaten. Show my papers to the police and
+demand evidence of my having any bad intentions in opening this safe
+this morning. I think you will have difficulty in producing any. I think
+that you will only prove yourself a fool. Are you so strong with the
+authorities as to brave that?"
+
+Astonished at her insight and more than astonished at her self-control,
+the experienced cracksman paused, and then in tones he rarely used,
+remarked quietly:
+
+"You are playing with your life, Miss Lee. I have a pistol leveled at
+you from my pocket, and I'm the man to fire if you give me the slightest
+occasion to do so. I'm Beau Johnson, miss, a detective if you please,
+but also a tolerably experienced cracksman, and I want a taste of those
+bonds."
+
+"And Mr. Fellows?"
+
+The words rang out clear and fearlessly.
+
+"Oh, he? He's a muff. You needn't concern yourself about him. The
+matter's between us two. Three thousand dollars for you, and a little
+more, perhaps, for me, and I to take all the blame."
+
+Her eye stole toward the door. No one could enter that way, she knew.
+Even her screams, if she survived them, might alarm, but could not bring
+her help for several minutes, if not longer. Yet she did not tremble;
+only grew a shade paler.
+
+"You do not answer. What have you to say?"
+
+"This." She was like marble now. "You will not kill me, because that
+would be virtually to kill yourself. You cannot leave this room without
+my help, nor fire a shot without being caught like a rat in a trap. I
+want three thousand dollars, and I mean to have them, but I do not see
+how you are going to get the few more which you promise yourself.
+Certainly I am not going to aid you in doing so, and you cannot open
+that safe. You have not the musical training."
+
+"No." The word came like a shot, possibly in lieu of a shot, for if
+ever he felt murderous it was at that moment. "I have not a musical
+training, but that does not make me helpless. In a few moments I shall
+have the pleasure of hearing you test your voice again. There's the
+office clock ticking; count the strokes."
+
+She stood fascinated. What did he mean by this? Involuntarily she did
+his bidding.
+
+"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, _eleven_!"
+
+"Yes," he repeated, "eleven! And at half past your old father dies."
+
+"Dies?" Her lips did not frame the words; her eyes looked it, her whole
+sinking, suddenly collapsing figure gave voice to the maddening query,
+"_Dies?_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"_Now, if Fellows will stay away_"
+
+
+"Yes. Such is the understanding if I do not telephone my pals to hold
+off. He's not at home; he's with my friends. They don't care very much
+about old men, and if I have not a decent show of money by half-past
+eleven this morning the orders are to knock him on the head. It won't
+take a very hard knock. He was far from being in prime condition this
+morning."
+
+She had shown great feeling at the beginning of this address, but at its
+close she drew herself up again and met him with something of her old
+composure.
+
+"These are all lies," said she. "My father would never leave his house
+at the instigation of any gang. In the first place, he is not strong
+enough to attempt the stairs. You cannot deceive me in this fashion."
+
+"He might be carried down."
+
+"He wouldn't submit to that, nor would the other lodgers in the house
+allow it without an express order from me."
+
+"They got the order; not from you, but from him. He demanded to be
+allowed to go. You see, Mr. Fellows sent a message that you were hurt--I
+will speak the whole truth, and say dying. The old man could not be held
+after that. He went with the messenger."
+
+Her cheeks were now like ashes. She had gauged the man before her and
+felt that he was fully capable of this villainy. How great a villainy
+she alone knew who had the history of this old man in her heart.
+
+"He went with the messenger," repeated Johnson, watching her face with a
+cruel leer. "That messenger knew where to take him. You may be sure it
+was to a place quite unknown to the police and to every one else but
+myself. Five minutes more gone, miss. In just twenty-five minutes more
+you will be an orphan and one impediment to your marriage will be at an
+end. How about the other?"
+
+"Oh!" she wailed. "If I could really believe you!"
+
+"I can smooth away that doubt. If you will promise not to compromise me
+with the clerks or any one inside there, I will allow you to telephone
+home and learn the truth of what I have told you. Anything further will
+end all business between us and wind up your father's affairs at the
+hour set. I can afford to humor you for ten minutes more in this
+nonsense."
+
+"I will do it," she cried. "I must know what I am fighting before----"
+She caught herself back, but he was quite able to finish the sentence
+for her.
+
+"Before you submit to the inevitable," he smiled.
+
+Her head fell and he pointed toward the door.
+
+"I will trust you to guard my--our interests," said he. "Open and go
+directly to your own telephone."
+
+With a staggering step she obeyed. Creeping up stealthily behind her he
+watched her manner of opening the door and profited by the one quick
+glance he got of the office as she stepped through and passed hurriedly
+forward to her desk. There was no one within sight. Mr. Fellows had not
+yet returned and the clerks were too remote to notice her agitation or
+pay attention to her gait or the tremulousness of her tone as she called
+for her home number.
+
+"Couldn't be better," thought he. "Now if Fellows will stay away long
+enough, I'll be able to double the boodle I've promised myself." This
+with a chuckle.
+
+Meantime Miss Lee had got in her message. The answer sent her flying
+toward him.
+
+"He's gone! He's gone!" she gasped. "My old, old father! Oh, you wretch!
+Save him and----"
+
+"You save me first," he whispered, and was about to draw her back into
+the room with the safe, when the outer door opened and a stranger
+entered on business.
+
+Her agony at the interruption and the few necessary words it involved
+caused the visitor to stare. But she was able to make herself
+intelligible and to turn him over to one of the clerks, after which she
+rejoined Johnson, closing the door quietly behind her.
+
+His greeting was characteristic.
+
+"You waste breath," said he, "by all this emotion. You'll need it to
+open the safe."
+
+"What guarantee have I that you will keep your part of the contract?"
+she cried. "I sing--the door opens--you help yourself, and you go. That
+does not restore to me my father."
+
+"Oh, I'll play fair. In proof of it, here's my pistol. If on our going
+out I do not stop with you at the telephone and let you communicate with
+your father and send my own message of release, then shoot me in the
+back. I give you leave."
+
+Taking the pistol he held out, she cocked it, and looking into the
+chambers, found they were all full.
+
+"I know how to use it," she said simply.
+
+Admiration showed in his face. He bowed and pointed toward the tube.
+
+"Now for the song," he cried.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+"_It was not paper I meant to have_"
+
+
+With a bound she took her stand. She was white as death and greatly
+excited. Watching her curiously, the crafty villain noted the quick
+throbbing of her throat and the feverish grip on the pistol.
+
+"Time is galloping," he remarked.
+
+She gave a gasp, opened her lips and essayed to sing. An awful,
+indescribable murmur was all that could be heard. Stiffening herself,
+she resolutely calmed down her agitation and tried again. The result was
+but little better than before. Turning with a cry, she looked with
+horror-stricken eyes into the unmoved, slightly sardonic face of the man
+behind her.
+
+"I cannot sing! You have frightened away my voice. I cannot raise that
+note even to save my father's life. I'm choking, choking." Then as she
+caught the devilish gleam lighting up his eye, she added, "You will
+never have those thousands! The safe is closed to us both."
+
+He laughed, a very low, cautious laugh, but it made her eyes distend
+with uncertainty and dread.
+
+"You fail to do justice to my forethought," said he.
+
+"I took this into my calculations. I know women; they can be wicked
+enough, but they lack coolness. Let me see now what I can do. I cannot
+sing, but I have a little _aide de camp_ which can."
+
+Walking away from her, he approached a small table on which stood an
+object she had never seen in that room before. It was covered with a
+cloth, and as he removed this cloth, she reeled with surprise; then she
+became still with hope and the rush of fresh and overpowering emotions.
+
+A graphophone stood revealed, one of the finest quality. It was set to
+play the air so often on her lips, and in another moment that keen, high
+note rang through the room,--that and no more.
+
+It answered. Slowly, softly, after one breathless moment, the door they
+both watched with fascinated gaze swung slowly ajar, just as they had
+seen it do at the beginning of this interview, and Johnson, coming
+forward, pulled it open with a jerk and began to fumble among the
+contents of the safe.
+
+She could have killed him easily. He had forgotten--but so had she, and
+there was no one else by to remind her. Had there been, he would have
+seen a strange spectacle, for no sooner had Johnson's hand struck those
+shelves and minute drawers, than Grace Lee's whole attitude and
+expression changed. From a terrified, incapable woman, she became again
+her old self, strong, self-controlled, watchful. Creeping up behind him,
+she looked over his shoulders as he examined with his quick, experienced
+eye the various papers he drew out, noting his anger and growing
+disappointment as he found them unavailable for immediate use. Conscious
+of her presence, his rage grew till it shot forth in words. Not stinting
+oaths, he whirled on her after a moment and asked where the securities
+were. "_You_ meant to have them; you know where the ready money is. Show
+me, show me at once or----"
+
+Then a great anguish passed across her face, a look of farewell to
+hopes sweet and dearly cherished. If he saw it he did not heed. All his
+evil, indomitable will shone in the eye he turned up askance at her, and
+though she held the means of killing him in her hand, she bowed to that
+will, and leaning over him, she whispered in his ear:
+
+"It was not paper I meant to have, but--but something else--I----"
+
+She stopped, for breath was leaving her. His slim, assured hand was
+straying toward a certain knob hidden partly from sight, but plain to
+the touch if his fingers crept that way.
+
+"Listen!" She was gasping now, but her hand laid on his shoulder
+emphasized her words. "There are jewels at the other end; Mrs.
+Stoughton's bridal jewels. They are worth thousands. I--I--meant to take
+those. They are in a compartment under that lower drawer. Yes,
+yes--there they are; take them and be gone. I--I have lost--but you will
+give me back my father? See! there are not many minutes left. Oh, be
+merciful and----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+"_Now for my part of the bargain_"
+
+
+He was looking at the jewels, appraising them, making sure they were
+real and marketable. She was looking at them, too, with a wild longing
+and a bitter disappointment, which he, turning at that moment to mark
+her looks, saw and rated at its full value.
+
+"Well, I guess they'll do," he exclaimed, pausing in his task of
+thrusting the gems in his pocket to hand her a bracelet ornamented with
+one small diamond. "But I expected more from all this fuss and feathers.
+Was it to guard these----"
+
+"Yes," she murmured, thrusting the bracelet into the neck of her dress
+and stepping quickly back. "They are priceless to the owner.
+Associations you know. Mrs. Stoughton is dead--There! that will do. Now
+for my part of the bargain," and bethinking her at last of the pistol,
+she raised it and pointed it full in his face. "You will close that door
+now and send the telephone you promised."
+
+He rose and banged to the door.
+
+"All right," he cried. "You've behaved well. Now hide that pistol in
+your waist and we'll step into the outer office."
+
+She did as she was bid, and in a moment more they were crossing the
+floor outside. As they did so, she noticed that the two clerks had been
+sent out to luncheon, leaving them alone with Mr. Fellows. This was not
+encouraging, nor did she like the click which at this moment Beau
+Johnson made with his tongue. It sounded like a preconcerted signal.
+Whether so or not, it brought Mr. Fellows from his room, and in another
+instant he was standing with them before the telephone. There was a
+clock over the safe-room door. It stood at just twenty-five minutes
+after eleven.
+
+"Hurry!" she whispered as the other took up the receiver.
+
+She did not need to say it. His own anxiety seemed to be as great as
+hers, but his anxiety was to be gone. The nerve which sustained him
+while the issue was doubtful gave some slight tokens of failing, now
+that his efforts had brought success and only this small obligation lay
+between him and the enjoyment of the booty he had won at such a risk.
+She was sure that his voice trembled as he uttered the familiar.
+"Hello!" and during the interchange of words which followed, the strain
+was perhaps as great on him as on her.
+
+"Hello! how's the old man?"
+
+She could hear the answer. It swept her fears away in a moment.
+
+"Well, but anxious about the girl."
+
+"She's all right, everything's all right. Take the sick man home and
+tell him that his daughter will be there almost as soon as he is."
+
+"I must hear my father's voice." It was Grace who was speaking. "I will
+give a cry that will echo through this building if you do not put me in
+communication with him at once."
+
+Her hand went out to the receiver.
+
+The veins on Beau Johnson's forehead stood out threateningly.
+
+"Curse you!" he muttered; but he gave the order just the same.
+
+"Hello! Don't shut off. The girl's nervous; wants to hear her father's
+voice. Have him up! two words from him will answer."
+
+"Father!"
+
+Grace's mouth was at the phone.
+
+No reply.
+
+She cast one look at Johnson.
+
+"They're getting him on his feet," he grumbled. _His_ eye was on the
+door.
+
+"Father!" she called again, her voice tremulous with doubt and anxiety.
+
+A murmur this time, but she recognized it.
+
+"It's he! it's he," she cried. "He's safe; he's well. _Father!_"
+
+But Johnson had no time for dilly-dallying. Catching the receiver back,
+he took his place again at the phone and shouted a few final
+injunctions. Then he faced her with the question:
+
+"Are you satisfied?" She nodded, speechless at last and almost
+breathless from exhaustion. He bowed and made for the door. As he opened
+it, Mr. Fellows slid forward and joined him. Both were leaving. He as
+well as Johnson. She caught the look which the manager threw her as he
+closed the door behind them. There was threat in that look and her heart
+strings tightened as she stood alone there facing her fearful duty. Mr.
+Fellows was a thief! The manager of this concern was even then perhaps
+walking off with the booty wrenched from her care by the devil's own
+inquisition. What should she do? Send for Philip? Yes, that was all her
+tortured mind could grasp. She would send for her own Philip and get his
+advice before she notified the police or sent the inevitable cablegram.
+She was too ill, too shaken to do more. Philip! Philip!
+
+She was fainting--she felt it, and was raising her voice to call in one
+of the clerks, when the outer door opened and Mr. Fellows came in. She
+had not expected him back. She had fondly believed that he had gone with
+his professional comrade; and the sight of him caused her to rise again
+to her feet.
+
+"You!" she murmured, facing him in dull wonder at his renewed look of
+threat. "I cannot stay in the same room with you. You are----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+"_What have you done among you_"
+
+
+"Never mind me," came clearly and coldly from his lips. "It is of
+yourself you must think. Here, officer!" he cried, opening the door
+again and ushering in a man in plain clothes, but evidently one of the
+force. "This is the young lady. I accuse her of taking advantage of her
+power to open Mr. Stoughton's private safe to steal his jewels. Her
+confederate has escaped. He had a pistol and I had no means of stopping
+him. But she is right here and you will make no mistake in arresting
+her. The booty is on her, and smart as she is, she cannot deny that
+proof."
+
+With a cry, Grace's hand went up to her throat.
+
+Then she settled into her usual self once more.
+
+The officer, eyeing her, asked what she had to say for herself.
+
+"A great deal," was her low answer. "But I shall not say it here. If Mr.
+Fellows will go with me to wherever you take people suspected of what
+you suspect me, I can soon make plain my position. But first I should
+like to send for my friend, Mr. Philip Andrews. He is with the Stickney
+Company, and he is acquainted with my affairs and the understanding
+between Mr. Stoughton and myself by which I have access to that
+gentleman's safe and do much of his private business for him."
+
+"That's all right. Send for Mr. Andrews if you wish, but you mustn't
+expect to talk to him without witnesses. Is that your coat and hat?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, put them on."
+
+Mr. Fellows advanced and whispered something in the officer's ear.
+Immediately the suspicious look grew in his eyes, and he watched her
+every movement with increased care. She saw this and stepped up to him.
+
+"I shall not deny having this piece of jewelry about my person," she
+said, drawing the bracelet from its hiding place. "The man whom Mr.
+Fellows calls my confederate gave it to me and I took it; but it will be
+hard for him or any one else to prove that it is a theft, harder than it
+will be for me to prove who is the real culprit here and the man whom
+you ought to arrest. Watch me, but watch him also; he is more deserving
+of your close attention than I am."
+
+Her disdain, her poise, the beauty which came out on her face when she
+was greatly stirred, gave her a striking appearance at that moment. The
+officer stared, then followed her glance toward Mr. Fellows. What he saw
+in him made him thoughtful. Turning back to Miss Lee, he said kindly
+enough, "Will you let me have that bracelet?"
+
+She passed it over and he thrust it in his pocket.
+
+"Now," said he, "I will go first. In a few minutes follow me and go down
+Nassau Street. A carriage will be at the curb. Take it. As for Mr.
+Fellows----"
+
+"I cannot leave till some of the clerks come in."
+
+"We will all wait till a clerk comes."
+
+Mr. Fellows paled.
+
+"Here is one now."
+
+The door opened and Philip Andrews came in.
+
+[Illustration: "_The door opened and Philip Andrews came in_"]
+
+"Oh, Philip!"
+
+"What is this? What have you done among you?"
+
+It was no wonder he asked. At sight of him Grace Lee had fainted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+"_So that was your motive_"
+
+
+Two hours later Grace was explaining herself. She was still pale, but
+very calm now, though a little sad. The sadness was not occasioned by
+any doubt she felt about her father. She had telephoned home and learned
+that he had arrived there and was well, and had nothing but good to say
+of his captors. No, there was another cause for her manifest depression,
+a cause not disconnected with Philip, toward whom her eyes ever and anon
+stole with an uneasy appeal which her mother would have been troubled to
+see. But it comforted Fellows, who began to regard her threats as idle
+in face of the evidence of her complicity as afforded by the concealed
+bracelet.
+
+The officer on duty was questioning her. Had she done this and that?
+Yes, she had. Why? Then she told her story--the story you have already
+read. As she proceeded with it, every eye sparkled under the graphic
+tale, and the police, who had some acquaintance with Beau Johnson,
+recognized his hand in all that she told. One face only wore a sneer,
+and that was Fellows's. But no sneer could discredit a story told with
+such vim and straightforward earnestness. As she mentioned the emptying
+of the office, each person present turned and gave him a look. The
+manager had undertaken a piece of work too big for him. His explanations
+of the presence of the graphophone in this inner office were feeble and
+contradictory.
+
+But he had his revenge, or thought he had, when she came to the jewels.
+She had pointed them out, but only to save a worse disaster. Injury to
+her father? "Yes, and----" She paused and her voice thrilled. "In one of
+the secret drawers," she continued, "there was an immense amount of
+currency in large denominations, the loss of which would cripple the
+business, if not bankrupt Mr. Stoughton. His hand was feeling its way
+along the face of this drawer. In another moment he would have
+discovered the tiny knob by the manipulation of which this drawer opens.
+To save the struggle which would have ensued, I directed his attention
+elsewhere. I don't believe I did wrong."
+
+"But you accepted one of these articles as your share. Do you believe
+you did right in this?"
+
+"Yes. I will not mention the smallness of the share, for that makes the
+portion saved for the owner of little account. Yet that portion is
+saved. I wish it had been a larger one."
+
+"No doubt. So that was your motive--to save this souvenir for Mr.
+Stoughton?"
+
+Casting a proud look at Philip, she moved a step nearer to the table on
+which the bracelet lay. "Will you be good enough," she asked her
+interrogator, "to take up that bracelet and read the initials on the
+inner side?"
+
+"R. S. T.," read the official.
+
+"Does any one here know Mrs. Stoughton's maiden name?"
+
+Evidently not, for all remained silent.
+
+"Does any one here know my mother's maiden name?"
+
+Philip started.
+
+"Yes," he cried, "I do. Her name was Rhoda Selden Titus."
+
+[Illustration: "_'R. S. T.' read the official_"]
+
+"R. S. T.," smiled Grace. "This bracelet was my mother's. Mr. Stoughton
+allowed me to place this keepsake and some other valuables of mine in
+his private safe. Gentlemen, the whole of those jewels were mine--my
+sole and only fortune. I was keeping them for"--her eyes stole toward
+Philip--"for my marriage portion, the secret and great surprise I had
+planned for my future husband. They are worth some five thousand
+dollars--my mother was the daughter of a wealthy man. They would have
+given us a home if I could have kept them; they would also have given my
+husband a start in business, and this I should have preferred, but I
+could not let Mr. Stoughton's securities be endangered, and so they had
+to go. Philip, cannot you forgive me when you think that it was through
+my folly the secret of the safe became known?"
+
+"I forgive you?" He could not show his feelings, but his eyes were
+eloquent; so were Fellows's; so were those of the various officials.
+
+"You can prove these statements, Miss Lee?" asked one.
+
+"Easily," she replied.
+
+Then they turned to Fellows.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+"_A jewel of far greater value_"
+
+
+Grace never got back her jewels. The wily Johnson was not caught, though
+Fellows turned state's evidence and did all he could to have the
+professional netted in the same manner as himself. But she did not
+suffer from this loss. When Mr. Stoughton learned the full particulars
+of this daring robbery, he made good to her the value of those jewels,
+and the prosperity of this young couple was secured. He was even present
+at the wedding. Grace wore her mother's bracelet, but on her breast was
+a jewel of far greater value. On its back was engraved,
+
+    To brave G. L.
+    From her grateful friend, T. S.
+
+[Illustration: "_He was even present at the wedding_"]
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Changes have been made to the original publication as follows:
+
+    Page 12
+
+    which for some inscrutible _changed to_
+    which for some inscrutable
+
+    Page 15
+
+    you're proposition, Mr. Fellows _changed to_
+    your proposition, Mr. Fellows
+
+    Page 69
+
+    window You can see it _changed to_
+    window. You can see it
+
+    Page 77
+
+    attempted some purile protest _changed to_
+    attempted some puerile protest
+
+    Page 78
+
+    done by day and duing _changed to_
+    done by day and during
+
+    Page 100
+
+    screaming will do no you good _changed to_
+    screaming will do you no good
+
+    Page 113
+
+    drew herself up againand met him with _changed to_
+    drew herself up again and met him with
+
+    Page 123
+
+    horrorstricken eyes into the unmoved _changed to_
+    horror-stricken eyes into the unmoved
+
+    Page 133
+
+    stood at just tw nty-five _changed to_
+    stood at just twenty-five
+
+    Page 134
+
+    want's to hear her _changed to_
+    wants to hear her
+
+    Page 153
+
+    Gentlemen the whole of those _changed to_
+    Gentlemen, the whole of those
+
+
+
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