“Have you nerve enough to keep this engagement with the Brown Robin and carry her another hundred dollars?”
Against this Mr. Alpheus Cary protested warmly, declaring that he never again would voluntarily see the woman.
But Nick’s persuasive powers must have been great, for shortly after four o’clock Mr. Cary was seen to leave the bank, and had he been followed, it would have been seen that his way was up Fourth Avenue.
CHAPTER V.
THE BROWN ROBIN DINES.
As the hour of five approached, an elderly gentleman who would have been recognized by any of the directors of the Zetler Bank as Mr. Alpheus Cary, its president, could be seen on the corner of Twenty-eighth Street and Fourth Avenue.
He was looking in every direction, and peering into the face of every man who approached him, exhibiting a nervousness and an anxiety which showed that he regarded his mission at that place as everything but pleasant.
Frequently he took out his handkerchief and mopped his face; altogether, he made himself rather conspicuous on the corner.
Finally, as five o’clock was reached, a young man Patsy would have recognized as the one who went to sleep in the hotel after writing two letters, came up from some unknown place, for Mr. Alpheus Cary thought he sprang from the earth.
“Mr. Cary, I believe,” said this young man, addressing the elderly gentleman.
“That is my name,” replied Mr. Cary, nervously.