"Yes, sir. Only an hour ago I saw him going into the store in company with the gentleman they say is the assignee in charge of the bankrupt stock."
"Very well; please go over to the store and ask him to come back with you; if he demurs tell him it is some very important business that has to be transacted."
"Yes, sir," and Dick was off like a flash.
He never undertook an errand with more animation, and Mr. Winslow, watching him from the window smiled broadly when he saw what his destination must be.
There was a man at the door of the big store, who would not let Dick in until he declared he was the bank boy, and that he had a very important message for Mr. Graylock.
He found that gentleman in the offices, with several others around him, going over the books, explaining what the different accounts meant and looking most abject and forlorn.
Indeed, Dick must have felt sorry for the man in his seeming distress of mind did he not know that this was but a part and parcel of the deep plan which Mr. Graylock was pursuing in order to gull the public; no doubt when at home and free from observation he was in the habit of shaking hands with himself because of the clever little dodge he had played looking to provision for the future.
"Mr. Graylock," said Dick, to attract his attention, for he was busily engaged in dispute with a severe looking gentleman.
When the bankrupt storekeeper looked up and saw who had spoken he scowled in a most savage manner.
"Well, boy, what do you want here?" he demanded.