She had fairly tottered into his arms. She hung to him, sobbing and gasping for breath. Tobias staggered under her weight. It was a minute or more before Miss Heppy could make audible her trouble.
"Tobias, it's gone!"
"What ye lost? Them false teeth again? I knowed——"
"Tobias, it's worse than that. It's the money!"
"What money?"
"Our money, Tobias! All our money! Uncle Jethro's legacy and all!"
"Oh, sugar, Heppy, you been dreamin'? You know that money's safe in the bank," he urged.
"But it ain't safe. The bank ain't safe. We've been robbed!" she cried, her voice rising to a thin shriek.
"Heppy! What ever do you mean? That dratted Arad Thompson! You don't mean to say he's got away with it? And in that wheel chair?"
"It isn't Arad Thompson! Oh, it isn't him!" wailed his sister. "The bank has been robbed! Burglars! Last night! Every penny of cash in it! A hundred and forty thousand dollars, so Zeke says!"