Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/406

 "I made a list myself of the numbers on a sheet of paper, and pushed cheques, notes, and gold up to the flat, middle part of my desk. I did not want to take out any of the account-books that night, and when I had finished the letters and he was gone, I should put the money in the safe in the back room. The memorandum of the numbers I should leave with the keys at Clapham, and the whole transaction would be dealt with by my assistant, Broadwood, in the morning.

"Making out the list had taken a little time, as the notes were all small and no two in a sequence; they had been collected for minor accounts in the country. Twenty years ago banking facilities were not so great as now, and we got from country customers large numbers of notes which would in our day be considered worn-out curiosities.

"I put my list of notes on the desk beside me, and went on with my letters, several of which were now ready for the copying-press. Copying is a mechanical operation at which I could work easily while Grainly was there. I wished to goodness he would go away. As I have said, no one in our place liked the man but the governor.

"That evening Grainly talked a lot about the business and the news of the day, and all sorts of things. I could not tell him to go away, for he could see I was not myself leaving yet, and copying the letters, putting them to dry, enclosing them in envelopes, and addressing them was not occupation for which a man could reasonably claim quiet.

"When my batch of letters were ready, seeing half an hour's work still before me, I held them out to him and said, 'When you are going, I should be obliged if you would post these, as I am not nearly finished here yet.'

Certainly,' said he, taking the hint and rising. He caught the letters in his hand and for a moment stared at me in a peculiar way. I thought he was going to resent physically my hint that he should take himself off. If he had I should have fared badly, no doubt, for he was a much bigger and more powerful man than I. He did not, however, attempt violence. He shifted his eyes from me and turned them slowly round the room, on the desk, and towards the door.

Anyone in the place who could show me out? All the gas is turned off below, and I have never gone down in the darkness,' said he, moving away.

There's no one but ourselves here. I'll show you the way,' I said with alacrity, delighted to get rid of him.

"I had led him through the long, dark corridor and half down the stairs, when he suddenly cried out, 'My stick! I left my stick above. I won't be a minute, Mayfield. Just wait here for me!'

"He ran upstairs to fetch his stick, and was back with me in the darkness, in a few seconds.

I found it all right,' said he; 'it was just at the door. I got it without going in at all.'

"I struck a match to light him, and presently he was out on the asphalt of Bread-street, walking rapidly towards Cheapside.

"When I got back to the counting-house the cheques were on the flat top of the desk. The gold and notes were gone!

"I had taken the numbers of the notes on a sheet of paper, and left the list on the