"I have circulated no slanderous reports about him," replied the grocer, who could scarcely believe his ears. "I said that I didn't think he was honest, and I say so yet."
"Yes; the story is all over town that you discharged Oscar because you thought he had taken money out of your drawer; but all the best people here know that he never did it. You say you have lost nothing lately. Do you happen to own a pocket-book about so long and so wide?" said Sam, placing his hands upon the desk, and indicating by them the length and breadth of the article he was describing.
Mr. Smith started as if he had been shot, and got off his high stool with such haste that he would have gone headlong to the floor if Miles had not caught him and placed him fairly on his feet again.
He opened the door of a large safe that stood in one corner of the office, and, unlocking a little drawer on the inside, pulled it out and looked into it.
"Great Moses!" he ejaculated; "it is gone!"
"I thought so," said Sam. "Was there anything of value in it?"
"Was there?" shouted Mr. Smith, trembling all over with excitement. "There was a hundred and fifty dollars in money in it, and negotiable paper to the amount of eight hundred dollars more. Have you seen it, Sam? Have you got it? Hand it out here!"
"Now don't try to rush matters," said Sam, whose cool, deliberate way of talking and acting so exasperated the excited grocer that he could hardly refrain from laying violent hands upon him and searching his pockets. "This thing must be done decently and in order, or it can't be done at all. I certainly have a pocket-book in my possession, but I want to be sure that it belongs to you before I hand it over to you. Here, Miles, look at it while Mr. Smith describes it."
"That's it! that's it!" cried the grocer, catching a momentary glimpse of the pocket-book as Sam handed it to his companion. "I would know it among a thousand. It's mine! Give it to me!"
He made an effort to snatch it, but Sam was too quick for him. He succeeded in placing it in Miles's hands, and the latter held fast to it.