“Yes,” replied her brother. He looked at her meditatively. He was about to tell her something—that he was almost sure that Carroll had gone out and pawned his watch to pay him—then he desisted. He reflected that his sister was a woman, and would in all probability tell the woman down-stairs and her son about it, and that it would be none of their business whether he worked for a man who was honest enough, or hard up enough, to pawn his watch to pay him his month's salary or not. He was conscious of sentiments of loyalty both to himself and to Carroll. During the next two weeks he often strolled in the neighborhood of the office and stood looking up at the familiar windows. One day he saw some men carrying away a desk which looked familiar, but he was not sure. He hesitated about asking them from what office they had removed it until they had driven away and it was too late. He went up on the elevator and surveyed the office door, but it looked just as usual, with the old sign thereon. He tried it softly, but it was locked.
When he reached the sidewalk he encountered Harrison Day, the young clerk. He did not see him at first, but a nervous touch on his arm arrested his attention, and then he saw the young man's face with its fast-winking eyes.
“Say,” said Harrison Day, “it's all right, ain't it?”
“What's all right?” demanded Allbright, a trifle shortly, drawing away. He had never liked Harrison Day.
“Oh, nothin', only it's ten days since he went, and I thought I'd look round to see how things were lookin'. You s'pose he's comin' back all right?”
“I haven't any reason to think anything else.”
“Well, I thought I'd look around, and when I saw you I thought I'd ask what you thought. The girls are kind of uneasy—that is, Sadie is—May don't seem to fret much. Say!”
“What?”
“Did he pay you?”
“Yes, he did.”