He was still thinking and wondering how he should find his way out of the tangle, when he was called upon to receive another customer, and the affair had to be put aside. He tried not to think of it again that day, for it had seriously hindered him already.
He stayed that evening until after Arthur had gone, on purpose to have a few words with the chief accountant, Mr. Bristow.
"What do you think of young Murray now?" he asked rather abruptly, much to Mr. Bristow's surprise, for he had had some talk with Mr. Brading about Arthur's capabilities for business only a short time before, and he wondered at being questioned about him again.
"I am worried about this missing letter," explained Mr. Brading. "Lady Mary Murray has been to see me to-day, and she gives the lad a very indifferent character, and thinks he may have been tempted to use her cheque by reason of their present poverty and the habits of luxury and self-indulgence in which he has been brought up. We know well enough the character they bear for not paying their debts, and this in itself is likely to undermine those principles of honesty and straightforward dealing that every lad should be reared in. What do you think of it?" asked Mr. Brading.
Mr. Bristow shook his head. "I never even glanced at the possibility of young Murray stealing the letter. Why should he pitch upon this particular one? There have been plenty of others containing money, and I have heard of no others being missed. Have you received any other complaint?" asked the accountant.
"No, I have not, and I hate to think the lad may be guilty of this theft. And yet how else are we to account for the disappearance of the letter?"
"Letters have been lost in their transit through the post before now," said Mr. Bristow, "and I should be more disposed to think that our letter has gone that way than that Arthur Murray has had anything to do with it. He and Lady Mary evidently dislike each other, from what he said here when it was discovered that the letter was lost, and that may have had something to do with her giving him an indifferent character for honesty."
"Well, to tell you the truth, I am at a loss to know what to think. My lady was very angry, for she danced."
Mr. Bristow could not help laughing a little at this point, in spite of the seriousness of the subject under discussion.
"I beg your pardon for laughing, but she seems to have carried out pretty accurately what young Murray said would happen when she went to the post office to enquire for the missing letter, and wished he could be present to witness the performance."