“Very well, good-day,” he said, as he lifted his hat and stepped back, whereupon Allison was driven away.
CHAPTER X.
A THRILLING ADVENTURE.
“Humph! So the little minx has her check-book!” mused John Hubbard, as he bent his steps toward the bank after Allison’s departure, an ugly gleam in his cold blue eyes. “That old dotard, her father, must have had considerable confidence in her financial ability to trust her to that extent! However, the game is pretty well in my hands, and I haven’t much anxiety about the result. I’ll win her if I can; I’ll drive her if need be—but I’ll crush her if she defies me!”
Musing thus, the wily schemer proceeded on his way; but, always intolerant of opposition, he was in no amiable frame of mind when he finally reached his office, and settled down to a pile of accumulated work that had been neglected for the outside demands upon his time during the week just passed.
As he sat down to his desk he opened one of the books which he had produced in court to show that Gerald had been guilty of falsifying his accounts, and began to study it intently.
“Humph!” he ejaculated. “I could have sworn that there is not a man living who could detect any change in those figures! That glass must have been wonderfully powerful, and that expert a keen hand at his business. He has made a study of chirography to some purpose! I wonder where they found him? I never heard of him before, although Judge Haight seemed to recognize him. A man needs to have his wits about him nowadays, if he intends to do crooked work.” With which sage reflection Mr. Hubbard closed the book with an impatient bang, and, turning to his papers, was soon absorbed in his work.
An hour later Gerald walked into the bank, when he was most cordially greeted and congratulated by his fellow clerks, with whom he had worked so long. He then went directly to Mr. Brewster’s private office, where he found John Hubbard occupying the late banker’s chair and desk.