"It is I, papa," answered Randolph.
"Then you may go down-stairs again," answered his father angrily. "I don't want to be disturbed."
"Won't you open the door a minute? I just want to ask a question."
"No, I won't. Clear out!" exclaimed the bank president angrily.
"What a frightful temper father has!" thought the discomfited Randolph.
There was nothing for it but to go down-stairs, and he did so in a very discontented frame of mind.
"It seems to me that something is going contrary," said Duncan to himself. "It is clear that it won't do to keep these bonds here any longer. I must take them to New York to-morrow—and raise money on them."
On second thought, to-morrow he decided only to take the five-thousand-dollar bond, and five of the one thousand, fearing that too large a sale at one time might excite suspicion.
Carefully selecting the bonds referred to, he put them away in a capacious pocket, and, locking the trunk, went down-stairs again.
"There is still time to take the eleven-o'clock train," he said, consulting his watch. "I must do it."