He choked and took a step toward Frank who had bounded to his feet.
"Stop!" cried Ernest. "Stop, Bill! What does this mean?"
"The envelope!" cried Bill, violently striking the paper in his hand. "The envelope! And the money! The money Lee is going to prison for!"
"No such thing!" cried Frank, finding his tongue. "That money is mine!"
"Here is the paymaster's endorsement on the envelope," cried Bill furiously. "You stole it—stole it and somehow put the blame on Lee. And then you took his present!"
He struck away Ernest's restraining hand.
"Give me that money!" cried Frank. "I found that envelope; that's all there is to that! The money is mine. Give it to me!"
"Yours?" said Bill. "Well, you won't get it!" and he thrust the long envelope full of bills into Ernest's grasp.
With a muttered word, Frank made a leap for it and Bill met him half way. Bill parried the blow that Frank launched as he realized that the money was out of his grasp, and in another instant they were fighting silently and desperately. Both were furiously angry, but Frank was desperate. Ruin stared him in the face. He was too stunned to realize that the game was up, his hand played out, and he fought with a primitive impulse to down the person who had trapped him.
That Bill had changed the trunks around when the storm was raging and that the keys were identically alike never occurred to either of them. Bill's mind was a blank save for the one overwhelming thought that he had found the envelope that would free Lee.