“Neither did I. I came on my old business.”
“What?”
“I heard there was a rich manufacturer here—I allude to your respected employer. I thought I might manage to open his safe some dark night.”
“No, no,” protested Gibbon in alarm. “Don’t think of it.”
“Why not?” asked Stark, coolly.
“Because,” answered Gibbon, in some agitation, “I might be suspected.”
“Well, perhaps you might; but I have got to look out for number one. How do you expect me to live?”
“Go somewhere else. There are plenty of other men as rich, and richer, where you would not be compromising an old friend.”
“It’s because I have an old friend in the office that I have thought this would be my best opening.”
“Surely, man, you don’t expect me to betray my employer, and join with you in robbing him?”