“I am all right now. What do you think I had better do?”
“Come round to-morrow, but don’t show the receipt unless Mr. Fairchild is in the office. He is a very different man from Mr. Mullins. The bookkeeper might still play a trick upon you?”
“I believe you’re right. Shall I tell him how you found and gave me back the receipt?”
“No; let Mr. Mullins puzzle over it. It is fortunate he didn’t destroy the receipt, or you would have had no resource.”
“You’re a smart boy, and I’ll take your advice. How long have you been in the office?”
“This is my first day,” answered Chester, smiling.
“Well, well! I couldn’t have believed it. You will make a smart business man. You’ve been a good friend to James Long, and he won’t forget it. I say, wife, perhaps this young gentleman will stay to supper.”
“Thank you,” answered Chester. “I would, but I am to meet a friend uptown at six o’clock. It is so late,” he added, looking at the clock on the mantel, “that I must go at once.”
When Chester met his friend the artist, he told him of what had happened.
“That Mullins is evidently a rascal, and a very mean one,” said Mr. Conrad. “If I were going to defraud anyone, it wouldn’t be a poor mechanic.”