A relieved look spread over the cashier’s face.
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Mr. Carter,” he declared gravely. “Both the president and vice president are out of town, and this thing is up to me. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that Mr. Stone oughtn’t to have been allowed to handle so much money if he’s in the state you say he is. We’re not alienists, and we would never have expected such a thing. Besides, the check would not have been honored had it not been made out to a man of such prominence who personally vouched for the proceeding, as he did over the telephone.”
“I understand,” Nick said consolingly. “Don’t worry about your end of it. I think I can promise you that there won’t be any comeback. It’s up to me, though, to repair the damage, if I can. I had come to fear something of this sort in the last few hours, but Follansbee has stolen a march on me. I don’t think his methods do any very great credit to his undoubted shrewdness, though, and the evidence you have to offer ought to be enough to make it hot for him.”
He left a few minutes later, after promising to keep the bank informed of developments.
“Follansbee has made the haul of his life,” Nick thought, as he paced along the busy street on his way back to the hotel; “and evidently Crawford wasn’t his only victim.”
When he reached the Windermere, his first act was to inquire if Stone had returned or if anything had been heard from him.
“Nothing doing,” was the clerk’s answer. “We’re somewhat alarmed, Mr. Mortimer. We don’t see how he could have left his room without the knowledge of the floor clerk.”
Nick looked about and saw there was no one else within earshot. He leaned confidentially over the desk.
“I know how he left the building,” he told the clerk; “and although I don’t feel at liberty to tell you the whole story, I’ll say this much: I’m Nicholas Carter, not Thomas Mortimer, and I have been keeping an eye on Stone and Crawford—for their good.”
“You don’t mean it!” cried the clerk, eying Nick’s make-up inquiringly. “I hope they haven’t done anything——”