"Oh, by the way, Mr. Cromwell," said the merchant, turning as he reached the door, and looking significantly at Cromwell, "if you meet with any mishap, telegraph me at once."
Again a greenish pallor overspread the face of James Cromwell, for he understood the allusion, and his cowardly nature recoiled with fear, not with abhorrence.
"Yes, sir," he said, "I will remember."
"Once more, good-bye, then," and Paul Morton closed the door behind him.
"I hope I shall never see that boy alive again," he said to himself. "Once get him out of the way and the money is mine. A hundred and twenty thousand dollars will be a great windfall to me. To be sure, there will be ten thousand to pay to Cromwell, but it will leave over a hundred thousand. Egad! it would be a capital arrangement if they both would tumble over the Falls together. It would be the best joke of the season."
And Paul Morton laughed to himself, a low, wicked laugh, at the prospect of the two from whom he had just parted being hurled together into a death so frightful, and all that he might gain money. As if human life were to be weighed against perishing dross! Yet every day life is bartered for it; not always criminally, but sacrificed by overwork, or undue risk, so insatiable is the hunger for gold, and so desperate are the efforts by which men seek to obtain it.
In due time they reached the station, and entering one of the long cars, selected their seats. They did not sit down together, but took seats directly in front of each other, giving a window to each.
"I suppose I ought to say something to him," thought Robert, "but I don't know what to say."
Indeed, there seemed to be no common ground on which they could meet. With some persons the boy would have been engaged in animated conversation long before this, but he seemed to have nothing to say to James Cromwell.
"Do you like traveling, Mr. Cromwell?" he asked, at length.