"The porter may have been mistaken after all; or even if he did see the gentleman that fact need not give you any alarm. Possibly he is doing something for Mr. Gibbs; or else has been engaged to straighten out the books of the defunct firm across the way. Forget it, and be happy," he said; and the other went back to his desk shaking his head as if he did not fully like the situation.
Dick found himself looking toward the door every time any one came in, and fervently hoping that Mr. Cheever might show up; for if he came it would doubtless signify that he had been successful in his hunt for the missing securities.
Every time he went out he could see the same crowd about the closed doors of the big store; people could not get over the novelty of the failure, possibly the first that had come to Riverview these many years, and certainly the worst by long odds.
Many in town had also suffered as well as the foreign creditors; and the name of Archibald Graylock was being held up to execration in many quarters where he had borrowed small sums, or else bought goods to fill a gap, and for which he had never settled.
Once he was seized upon by Ferd who had been hovering around, possibly at his father's desire, to hear what was being said of the man who had gone down with such a smash.
Ferd looked doleful enough, and Dick did not have the heart to feel glad.
Knowing what he did of the Graylock son and heir, Dick had before now decided in his own mind that this failure of his father might be the making of Ferd; certainly it was not going to do him any particular harm to be thrown out on his own resources, and there was a chance that it would arouse a slumbering spark of ambition that may have never awakened only for this sudden change.
"This is a mighty rough deal we're up against, Dick. The old man seems to think you know something about those securities he lost the other day. If you do you've played the meanest trick on him that ever was; for he says they would have kept his head above water. But between you and me I believe the old man is getting a bit looney, and that he has pawned them long ago. I'll be glad to get away from this miserable little place, that's what," said Ferd, with disgust plainly shown on his face.
"Then you expect to go away?" asked Dick.
"Yes, in a day or two, to Boston. An uncle has offered me a job in his office; and as he is a broker I think I see myself getting to the top of the heap before long," replied the other, braggingly.