“Thank you, sir, for your compliment, and especially for reinstating me. I should be very sorry to lose this position, and I know my father and mother would feel badly, too.”
“Do not worry about that, my boy. Employers are as anxious to get desirable clerks as clerks are eager to be employed. But to return to the matter of false imprisonment, I will state the case to my lawyer, and see what there is in it. Of course it would be no use to fight him if he is worth nothing.”
“He said he had plenty of money—enough to make us all rich,” put in Bob, with some enthusiasm. “It would be a great act to make him come down handsome. I’d like to see it done.”
“Those fellows usually have a lot of money,” said Mr. Goldwin, “and I agree with Bob—I will call you by that name hereafter—that it would be gratifying to recover damages.”
“That’s right, I like to be called Bob—everybody calls me that.”
“Well, Bob, you are a character. I shall take a great interest in your development, for I think you have done the smartest thing, in getting your friend out of old Gunwagner’s clutches, that I ever knew a boy of your age to do.”
Bob’s cheeks became highly colored. He had not been accustomed to praise, and such compliments as these from a rich banker were unwieldy for him.
“Tom Flannery helped me,” said the young detective, generously trying to throw some of the glory upon Tom.
“Tom Flannery! Who is he?”
“He is a fellow what sells papers too. Me and him worked this case up together.”