"Yes," said James Cromwell, in a low voice, his pale face a little paler than its wont, for he knew as well as his employer, that the sum mentioned was indirectly offered him as an inducement to make way with the boy. He could not prove it, of course, but it was clear to his own mind, and Paul Morton meant that it should be.
"Come here to-morrow," he said, rising, as a signal of dismissal, "and meanwhile I will prepare my ward for the new plans which we have been discussing."
James Cromwell rose, and his mind in a tumult of various emotions, left the house in Twenty-ninth Street.
CHAPTER X. A VILLAINOUS SUGGESTION.
"Tell Robert Raymond that I wish to speak to him," said Paul Morton, to a servant who answered his bell.
"Yes, sir."
In five minutes Robert entered his presence. The boy was clad in a suit of black, and his face was grave and sad. The death of his father, his only relation of whom he had any knowledge, had weighed heavily upon his feelings, and he moved about the house in a listless way, with little appetite or spirit.
"You sent for me, sir?" he said interrogatively, as he entered.