"Oh, I shall be careful, Mr. Burton. Don't you worry about that. I have my eye teeth cut."
"When do you mean to take up the affair?"
"This minute! As soon as I can get my men together and the necessary formalities disposed of."
"Am I to go right along with you?" Christopher leaped to his feet.
"Yes. Fetch your hat and coat. I'll take care of the boy, Mr. Burton. Have no concern about him. It is only natural he should wish to see this job through, having been mixed up in it from the first. Besides, remember we have him to thank for every clew we have succeeded in getting. It was he who witnessed the robbery; he who trapped and identified Stuart; he who now furnishes us with the whereabouts of the loot. You wouldn't deprive him of seeing the end of the drama, would you?"
"No-o," answered Mr. Burton slowly. "Still, it is no place for him. He's been mixed up with criminals and police stations ever since he came into this store. I didn't bring him here for any such purpose. Why, he has secured more knowledge of thieves and prisons during the last few weeks than he would have gathered together in a lifetime."
"He may be the wiser for it, too. Have you thought of that? Crime isn't very attractive when one sees this side of it."
"That is true," agreed Burton, Senior.
"Let Christopher alone, Mr. Burton. What he has seen won't hurt him. It has been a grim, sad adventure in which it would be hard to find one alluring feature."
"I guess that is true. Certainly evil has not triumphed."