"Can you call again?"
"I will wait."
"He may be engaged a long time."
"I cannot help it, I must see him to-day, and it does not make much difference; I am in no hurry, I can wait as well as not."
The clerk walked away and our hero edged toward the office situated at the rear of the store, and seated himself upon a case of goods, resting directly against the office partition.
A glass casing only separated the detective from the members of the firm and the master of the "Nancy," and he could overhear all that passed.
The clerk meantime was busy in the forward part of the store, and paid no heed to the stupid-looking countryman.
Spencer Vance was well repaid for his risks. He overheard the names of several firms, and got down facts which made it a dead open and shut case.
At length he recognized that the conference was about reaching a conclusion, and he came another sharp trick.