It was a terrible thought, but just as the teller had declared, he could see that things must have come to a bad pass indeed with the merchant, and that anticipating a smash in the near future he had possibly conceived the scheme of making way with those negotiable securities in order to defraud his creditors; when the storm had blown over he might go to some city, dispose of the valuable papers by degrees, and in this way have enough to live on comfortably the balance of his days.
On the way home Dick considered whether it were best to tell his mother; and as he had always made it a habit to keep nothing of any importance from her he determined to do so.
She had ever been his best friend and adviser in the many difficulties that beset a boy, and more than once he had found that her wisdom far excelled his own in bringing about a settlement of his boyish disputes.
He found her anxiously awaiting his coming, for the strain had been great, and every minute beyond his customary time for returning was torture to her fond heart, since, in imagination, she could see him being possibly arrested for something that any one with half a heart must know he would never be guilty of doing.
And so Dick told her what had passed during the day, winding up with his conference with Mr. Winslow.
To this latter Mrs. Morrison listened with bated breath, and a look of alarm not unmixed with horror in her gentle eyes.
She was unused to anything bordering on crime, and could hardly believe that a man might bring himself to such a point where he would rob himself.
"But that isn't the point, mother," said Dick, when the lady spoke of this fact. "If he did take those securities he wasn't stealing from himself but from his creditors; for you see they were part of his resources, and would have to be produced in case of a failure, to help pay off his indebtedness."
"Yes, I think I manage to grasp that part of it now, Dick, though you financial men should be more careful to explain such things to greenhorns. Do you suppose he will be arrested and made to produce the missing documents, son?" she asked, with a little laugh.
"Oh! I do not think so. Mr. Winslow said we hadn't a bit of evidence against him more than suspicion, and that is a poor thing to go on. You thought so in my case mother, anyway. He told me to leave it to him, and in some way he'd find a chance to learn the truth."