“What a fool I am! I ought to have suspected when—-”

“When what?”

“When he brought some bonds to me to-day to sell.”

“He did!” exclaimed Mrs. Estabrook; “what were they?”

“A five-hundred-dollar and a hundred-dollar bond.”

“I had a five-hundred and five one-hundred-dollar bonds. They were mine—the young villain!”

“I greatly fear so, mother.”

“You ought to have kept them, Willis. Oh! why didn't you? Where is the boy? I will see Mr. Reynolds at once.”

“Wait a minute, till I tell you all I know. The boy said the bonds were handed to him by an acquaintance.”

“It was a falsehood.”