Page:Steadfast Heart.djvu/193

 Chet was stunned. He was shocked. He was bewildered. He stared at his employer and at Angus, and rather fancied himself to be the victim of some sort of evil dream. The thing was absurd, impossible! “Not—not here in the bank!” he exclaimed. It was a cry of expostulation.

“Yes,” said Mr. Woodhouse, “in the bank. His duties, in the beginning, will be those of my personal assistant.”

Leaving his horror-stricken employees, the old gentleman motioned Angus into his private office and closed the door. Chet turned his head slowly and peered at Gene, who returned the gaze open-mouthed.

“Well—” he said, and then words failed him.

“In the bank!” exclaimed Gene. “Right where folks deposits their money—where money’s a-layin’ around under foot, so to speak. Folks ’ll be drawin’ out as soon as they hear of it.”

“And him a murderer, too—for ’twa’n’t nothin’ but Craig Brownin’s cleverness got him out of it!… Reg’lar desperado—that’s what he was…. Think of us bein’ throwed with him all the time! Why, the’ hain’t nobody in town has anythin’ to do with him….”

“His father, he was a thief too. That’s what