“What is it?” asked a new servant girl, who came to the door.
“Is Mrs. Larkspur in?” he asked, having seen the name on the door plate.
“Yes, sir. Please step in the reception room and I’ll call her,” answered the girl.
Frank entered the room indicated and sat down. In the meantime the girl, thinking Mrs. Larkspur had gone to the kitchen, hurried off in that direction.
Now, as it happened, the landlady had caught Gabe Flecker in the hallway a moment before, on his way out. She had presented her bill and intimated pretty strongly that she would like to have it paid without delay.
“Very well, I’ll pay it, madam,” said the swindler. “I will go upstairs and get the money. Wait a moment till I bring it down, if you please.”
“Certainly, sir,” said Mrs. Larkspur, much pleased with her boarder’s readiness, and she waited in the parlor for him to come down again.
A few minutes later Gabe Flecker came rushing down into the parlor with an excited manner and a flushed face.
“Goodness, Mr. Gibson, what is the matter?” questioned the alarmed landlady. To her he had introduced himself as Ralph Gibson, from Rochester.
“Matter? Matter enough, madam! I had laid aside fifty dollars in one of my trunks only yesterday, and to-day it is gone—every dollar of it is gone!”