"That remains to be seen. But at any rate it will give me a chance to hear what I want at first hands, and put my own construction on it. There is a good deal in that, you know."
Thereupon he began to fire away with his questions, and bit by bit drew out the entire story of that one day's happening; now and then he would go over some point and try to see if Dick would contradict himself, but the result was always the same.
"You are a gilt-edged witness, Dick. You never changed your story a particle. I think I have learned all I want now," the other said, in conclusion.
"And what do you think, sir—was my later suspicion founded on anything like fact, or did I allow my imagination to have too big a grip on me when I peeped through that little hole and saw that look on his face?" asked the boy.
The man smiled and shook his head.
"We have to keep our ideas pretty close, Dick. What I think I might not like to say; only that you were far from being a fool when you allowed yourself to think as you did. Time will tell. I will begin to lay my plans, although days may go by, and I will vanish from this region before I find the chance to carry out the last desperate part of my little scheme. Thank you for all you have told me. It has helped me very, very much, my boy."
Later on Dick saw the gentleman once more at work in the bank.
He acted his part to perfection, and not even the bookkeeper seemed to have the slightest suspicion that Mr. Cheever could be anything other than he claimed.
Of course, the fact that he had formerly been a bank examiner before taking up his present profession of investigation made it easy for him to play the game.
But it promised to be the easiest similar task the anxious bookkeeper had ever gone through with; for at the end of the second day the gentleman complimented him on his accurate accounts, and the bank on its solvent condition; after which he was closeted with Mr. Gibbs and the cashier in the president's room for an hour, came out, gravely shook hands all around, and departed.