This he closed, but did not fasten, the clasp being too high, and the window far above the ground.
“I shall be glad when I am back home,” he muttered. “What can he do with all this money? I should like to know. Who’s that?”
He started and exclaimed aloud, for he had heard a rustling sound.
“Only me, sir. I was coming down to close that window.”
“You startled me, Denton, going about like a ghost. Good-night.”
“Good-night, sir.”
Then first one door closed, then another, and one door opened, that of the study, from which the occupant’s face appeared for a few moments with an intent listening air upon the stern features.
Then the door was closed again, the cabinet opened, and the cash-box taken from one of the drawers, over which the young man sat for quite half an hour, counting notes and calculating, before replacing the contents.
“I don’t like to leave it here,” he said thoughtfully. “It has been safe so far, but thieves might break through and steal, and that would be awkward. Let’s think it out over a cigar.”
He took the spirit-stand from the closet again, poured out a goodly portion of whiskey into a Venice glass, and after mildly lowering its strength with water, took a deep draught before lighting a choice cigar, whose pleasant perfume soon pervaded the room.