"No, sir. When I carried the books in at the close of business the shelf was empty, so I guessed Mr. Payson had put it away as soon as he returned from lunch."
"Oh! you noticed that, did you? Take pains to stick a pin in that, Mr. Goodwyn, please; the boy was enough interested in that particular packet to look and see if it was still there! Now, tell me just why you thought anything about it, boy?" exclaimed Mr. Graylock, scowling as he bent forward the better to stare into the face of the one under suspicion.
"I don't know why I should, but just happened to remember having placed it there. The books fit in a rack under that shelf. I suppose it was only natural for me to remember the incident, and give one look up there."
"Just so," said the cashier, slowly, as if trying to grasp the tangled ends to the mystery with which he so unexpectedly found himself confronted; "you appear to be wondering what all this means, and I will tell you. That buff envelope contained negotiable securities worth fully one hundred thousand dollars. I saw them with my own eyes and even handled them, putting them back with the other papers myself just before you were called in. I have taken this envelope out of the safe just now, and when Mr. Graylock scattered the contents on my table the securities were missing!"
So, that was what had happened, was it? and suspicion had already pointed its finger in the direction of the bank boy, simply because he had held the buff envelope in his hands a brief time!
Somehow, now that the worst was known, Dick did not feel anything like a tremor pass through his frame.
Strong in the consciousness of his own innocence he could not see where he had been at all to blame; they could certainly not accuse him of a misdemeanor on the strength of mere suspicion in the mind of Mr. Graylock, who had shown so plainly the strange and unreasonable dislike he bore Dick.
"I am sorry to hear that, sir; but I assure you that I know absolutely nothing about the matter. I placed the packet on the shelf; someone put it away a short time later, and I have not touched it since. That is all I can say, Mr. Goodwyn," he went on, with an expression on his young face that might either mean sincerity or brazen boldness, according to the way one chose to look at it.
"But no one saw you come out of the safe that day. You may have been there a full minute; that would be long enough to open the envelope, extract part of the contents and put the rest away—that is, if you were so minded," said Mr. Graylock, vindictively.
Dick grew very white, and a burning answer trembled on his tongue at this direct accusation, but he wisely held himself in restraint, remembering that under the circumstances the distracted merchant could hardly be blamed for what he was saying.