“Another such transaction, Mr. Mullins, and you leave my employ.”
“But, sir——” stammered Mullins.
“You may spare your words. I understand the matter. If you had not been in my employ so long, I would discharge you at the end of this week.”
Mullins went back to his desk, crushed and mortified. But his brain was busy with the thought, “Where could James Long have obtained the receipt?” He remembered having put it into the pocket of his overcoat, and it had disappeared.
“I was a fool that I didn’t destroy it,” he reflected.
CHAPTER XV.
A PLOT AGAINST CHESTER.
The more the bookkeeper thought of it, the more he was of the opinion that Chester must have had something to do with the events that led to his discovery and humiliation. Otherwise, how could James Long have recovered the receipt? He, himself, had found it and kept it in his possession. Chester must have chanced upon the receipt and carried it to Long.
Though well convinced of it, he wished to find out positively. Accordingly, he took his cousin Felix into his confidence as far as was necessary, and sent him to the room of the mechanic to find out whether Chester had been there.