"Why didn't Mr. Graves get me to attend to his business?" asked Carver, still in the dark.
"I didn't say Graves had any business of his own. He is president of the bank, you know."
"But I attend to the bank business. I am the messenger."
"Perhaps you don't attend to all of it," said Phil, telling considerably more than he intended when the conversation commenced.
"Tell me what you know, Phil, about this matter. It is important for me to know," said Carver coaxingly. "I know you don't like Grit, neither do I. If he is trying to curry favor with Mr. Graves, I want to know it, so as to circumvent him."
Before Phil quite knew what he was saying, he had revealed everything to Carver, adding that Grit was after his place.
The bank messenger now understood why the package entrusted to him was a dummy, and who carried the real package. He lost no time in sending information to Colonel Johnson, in Portland.
The gentleman was very much excited when he learned in what way he had been circumvented.
"So it was a boy, was it?" he said savagely. "That boy must be looked after. He may find that he has made a mistake in meddling with affairs that don't concern him."