"I shall be very glad to go with you," said Morton; "for, if they are really good securities, I will invest some money in them."
"Oh! there is nothing better," she replied, "and I will show you mine."
She then took out the pocket-book she had shown him before, and unfolded one of the pieces of paper. Morton saw that it was a five-hundred-dollar bond, of the issue of 1865, payable in 1885, with about twenty or thirty coupons attached. He was so surprised and excited at seeing the bond, that he could hardly tell what to do, and so he failed to notice the most important point—the number. By the time she had opened the other bond, however, he had his wits a little more under command, and he was able to remember that the figures of the number were five, seven, one, zero, and some other figure; but he could not recollect positively the order in which they came.
"You can go to the bank to-morrow and get the coupons cashed for me, can't you?" she asked, after putting away the bonds.
"Oh! certainly, if you wish me to do so," he replied.
Then she laughed, and said:
"You would be arrested if you should take these bonds to the bank."
"How so?" he asked, apparently in great surprise. "Why should I be arrested?"
"Because the bonds belong to me, and you would have to give an account of the way in which you obtained them."
"Oh! well," he replied, "you could give me an order, and that would make it all right."