"No!" replied the merchant nervously, "he was here early in the afternoon, before I took the bill. There has been no one to the cash drawer but you and myself—unless you neglected your business and allowed some scoundrel in behind the counter while I was at tea."
Fred flushed up at this intimation that he might have been false to his trust, and replied, with some show of injured feeling:
"Mr. Rexford, if any money has been lost, I am sorry for you; but as I said, I know nothing about it. You say you took in a twenty dollar bill, and that now it is gone. If a mistake has occurred in making change, I don't know why it should be laid to me any more than yourself, for I am as careful as I can be."
"Do you mean to say, young man, that I have made a mistake of this size in making change?"
"I simply say, there must be a mistake somewhere. Have you figured up your cash account to know just how it stands?"
Mr. Rexford had not figured it up, but on discovering that the bill was missing, and noticing that there was little increase in the other money, he jumped to the conclusion that the drawer was twenty dollars short. But on carefully going over his cash and sales accounts, and reckoning the money on hand, he found that there was just eighteen dollars missing.
This discovery only added mystery to the already perplexing matter. It certainly looked now as though some cunning method had been employed to swindle him.
The merchant's brow contracted at the thought, and after a few moments he said, in an excited and angry manner:
"Worthington, you know about that bill, and are trying to deceive me. I can see no way but that you took it during my absence, and in trying to cover up your act put two dollars in the drawer; but, young man, I'd have you know that such tricks can't be played on me!"
The flush that had appeared upon Fred's face was now gone, and in its stead appeared the paleness of anger. He stepped squarely up to his accuser, and said, in a determined tone: