have a heart-to-heart talk with me."

"What do you expect I can tell you?" asked Frank quietly.

"I want you to tell me the truth. I expect you won't," said John Minute.

A half smile played for a second upon Frank's lips.

"At any rate," he said, "you are being straight with me. I don't know
exactly what you are driving at, uncle, but I gather that it is
something rather unpleasant, and that somewhere in the background there
is hovering an accusation against me. From the fact that you have
mentioned Mr. Rex Holland or the gang which went by that name, I suppose
that you are suggesting that I am an accomplice of that gentleman."

"I suggest more than that," said the other quickly. "I suggest that you
are Rex Holland."

Frank laughed aloud.

"It is no laughing matter," said John Minute sternly.

"From your point of view it is not," said Frank, "but from my point of
view it has certain humorous aspects, and unfortunately I am cursed with
a sense of humor. I hardly know how I can go into the matter here"--he
looked round--"for even if this is the time, it is certainly not the
place, and I think I'll accept your invitation and come down to Weald
Lodge to-morrow night. I gather you don't want to travel down with a
master criminal who might at any moment take your watch and chain."

"I wish you would look at this matter more seriously, Frank," said John
Minute earnestly. "I want to get to the truth, and any truth which
exonerates you will be very welcome to me."

Frank nodded.

"I will give you credit for that," he said. "You may expect me
to-morrow. May I ask you as a personal favor that you will not discuss
this matter with me in the presence of your admirable secretary? I have
a feeling at the back of my mind that he is at the bottom of all this.
Remember that he is as likely to know about Rex Holland as I.

"There has been an audit at the bank," Frank went on, "and I am not so
stupid that I don't understand what this has meant. There has also been
a certain coldness in the attitude of Brandon, and I have intercepted
suspicious and meaning glances from the clerks. I shall not be
surprised, therefore, if you tell me that my books are not in order. But
again I would point out to you that it is just as possible for Jasper,
who has access to the bank at all hours of the day and night, to have
altered them as it is for me.

"I hasten to add," he said, with a smile, "that I don't accuse Jasper.
He is such a machin