They crossed the creek by a little footbridge used by those who kept boats near by, climbed the fence by the meadow, and then started straight across, Dick keeping his eyes eagerly on the alert for any sign of a white paper.
Before they had more than half crossed the field, with the river half hidden in the trees and brushwood beyond he gave an exclamation of delight.
"Look over there, sir, just where that oak stands; there is something white in the scrub at its butt. Perhaps that may be what we are looking for."
"I hope so, Richard, I truly hope so," replied the tender-hearted teller, who had taken a great fancy for the boy, and felt deeply grieved over the calamity that seemed to be hovering over his head, for if Dick turned out to be a rogue Mr. Winslow believed he would never be able to trust any lad again.
Hurrying forward they were soon at the base of the tree, Dick having his eyes fixed upon the white paper that had become caught in the twigs of the brush.
"It's the letter, all right, sir. Please take it out yourself. Mr. Goodwyn would not trust me to touch it, I'm afraid," he said, a little bitterly.
So the teller immediately reached into the copse and gently but eagerly drew the paper out; he scanned its entire contents before saying a word, while Dick watched the look of pleasure that began to steal across his face.
Presently the teller gave a big sigh of relief, and his first act was to snatch the boy's hand and squeeze it fiercely.
"It's all right, Dick, and I'm delighted more than I can tell you. What you say is fully proven in this letter. Let them call up the firm if they want; you have nothing to fear from any exposure. Come, we will get back to the bank as fast as possible. I want to see the face of that old reptile when he learns that the letter has been found, just as you said," by which rather severe epithet he undoubtedly meant Mr. Graylock, whose evident animosity toward the bank boy he must have noticed.
"I am glad the letter didn't blow further, and get in the water, for then we never could have found it; but after all it wouldn't have mattered much in the end. They would have learned that I never sent a single letter to that firm, and that I was unknown to them," remarked Dick, as he trudged along at the side of the teller, whose eagerness to produce the proof of the boy's innocence in so far as his accounting for that envelope went was urging him to walk unusually fast.