The young man’s voice was trembling as he answered: “We both saw them, as you say, sir. They were there, right enough.”
The big financier took a great interest in the mechanism of safes; it had always been one of his hobbies. He had tried half a dozen different kinds during his business career, and in the present one he was confident he had found the latest thing in ingenuity and safety.
In truth it was a marvel, and there was nothing else like it in all the world. He had availed himself to the full of the resources of the locksmith’s art, and had contributed a few practical suggestions as to the actual mechanism himself. It had a marvellous time lock, the secret of which was only known to himself and his secretary. The time when the safe could be opened was automatically controlled by the day of the month.
For example, if it was secretly set to open at nine o’clock on June the twelfth, it would not open before nine plus six (the sixth month of the year), plus twelve (the day of the month). Therefore, it would be twenty-seven minutes past nine before the two keys could be inserted, and then only for one minute. If that time passed, the safe could not be opened till next day, and then not one minute but two minutes later.
There was a long pause in which both men were thinking furiously. Richard Croxton, recovering slowly from the shock, was beginning to realize the awkwardness of the situation with regard to himself, and to anticipate the thoughts that were forming themselves in the mind of the man who had, up to the present, treated him more like a father than an employer.
Gradually over Morrice’s countenance came that hard, grim look which Richard had seen a few times during their association together; notably in the early days when some gross act of carelessness or inattention had aroused dissatisfaction and subsequent anger.
“Well, what have you to say about it?” thundered the banker at length. When he had once come to a conclusion he never beat about the bush, but went to the point as straight as an arrow.
The unfortunate young man moistened his dry lips with his tongue. It was an agonizing moment for him, and, engrossed as he was with the terrible aspect of the situation, he could not help thinking of Rosabelle and her heartening words uttered a few hours previously. This was the day on which he had resolved to confess to her uncle his love for the charming girl, and beg his consent to their betrothal. In a few seconds this roseate prospect had been blotted out, and he was confronting, not a kindly master and friend, but a stern and angry judge.
“I have nothing to say, sir, except that I am innocent, and that statement you do not look as if you were inclined to believe.”
The elder man emitted an angry exclamation, and the grim expression grew grimmer as he gazed searchingly at the pale and shaken young man.