Helping Himself by Alger, Horatio, 1832-1899

A small man of quiet manner, attired in a sober suit of brown, closely followed him.

All present looked at him in surprise. Who was this man, and what had he to do with the matter that concerned them all?

They were not destined to remain long in doubt,

"Mr. Graham, gentlemen!" said the broker, with a wave of the hand.

The detective bowed courteously.

"Mr. Graham, permit me to ask," continued the broker, "if you have seen any of these gentlemen before?"

"Yes," answered Graham, and he indicated Grant Thornton, Jim Morrison and Tom Calder.

"When did you see them, and where?"

"At the Fifth Avenue Hotel this morning."

"What passed between them?"

"They were talking about some bonds, which that gentleman," indicating Morrison, "acknowledged giving to the boy to sell. He asked for the proceeds, but the boy told him there was something wrong about the bonds, and his employer wouldn't allow him to pass over the money. Upon this, Morrison, as I understand him to be called, said they were given him by a party that owed him money, and threatened that, if he had played a trick upon him, it would be the worse for him."

"Who is that man, Mr. Reynolds?" asked Ford, in nervous excitement.

"One of the best known detectives in the city," quietly answered the broker. "What have you to say to his evidence?"

"That it doesn't concern me. I may be wrong about the boy taking the bonds, but that doesn't involve me. There may have been another party."

"You forget the testimony of the telegraph boy--that he saw you give the bonds to your friend there."

"The boy told a falsehood!"

"I am in a position to confirm the boy's testimony," said the detective.

Willis Ford gasped for breath and seemed ready to sink into the floor. What was coming next?

CHAPTER XXIII

JUSTICE TRIUMPHS

Mr. Graham turned to the broker and addressed further remarks to him.

"Your statement that four hundred dollars remained to be accounted for, led me to conclude that they would be found in the possession of the party who had abstracted the others. I therefore obtained a search warrant and visited the room occupied by that gentleman, whose name I believe is Willis Ford."

This was an unexpected stroke. Ford did not speak, but kept his eyes fixed upon the detective in evident panic.

"I have just come from Mr. Ford's room," he resumed. "These are what I found there."

He drew from his pocket a long envelope, from which he took four government bonds.

"Will you be kind enough, Mrs. Estabrook," said the broker, gravely, "to examine these bonds and determine whether they are yours?"

The housekeeper took them mechanically and examined them.

"They are mine," she said; "but I cannot believe Willis took them."

"I did not," said Ford, hoarsely, but his eyes were downcast.

"Will you account for their being in your room, then, Mr. Ford?" inquired the broker, sternly.

"That boy must have put them there. I know nothing of them. I am as much surprised as you are."