“Bills are just as good,” said Benton.
“I will give you gold for bills,” said Vincent. “I want to send some money to the East.”
“All right, and thank you,” said Benton. “Here are two fives.”
“And here are two gold pieces,” said Vincent.
There was a secret look of elation on his face as he received the bills, and furtively noticed a red cross on the back of each. They had been secretly marked by himself as a trap to catch the thief, whoever he might be.
“Now I have you, my man,” he thought. “This is the evidence I have been looking for. It settles the question of Benton’s guilt and Grant’s innocence.”
Vincent played two or three times for slight stakes, and rose from the table after a while neither a loser nor a winner.
He did not go immediately, but stayed, like many others, simply as a looker on.
“Won’t you join us?” asked Benton.
“No; I must go away soon. I want to write a letter. I only dropped in for a few minutes.”