en so busy to-day that I couldn't find time to see you. I
understand that Mr. Graylock is in the hands of the assignee, and that
his creditors will be lucky to get thirty cents on the dollar. Do you
know anything about the missing securities, Mr. Winslow?" asked Dick,
wishing to draw the conversation into a channel less personal.

"I only wish I did. But nevertheless, there's a chance that something
may be done before long. I've interested Mr. Cheever in the matter,"
remarked the teller, looking down at his companion slily as he spoke, to
see what effect his words had.

Dick appeared startled.

"Why, that's the bank examiner, isn't it? What on earth interest could
he have in the matter at all? It would hardly be a part of his business
to go around hunting up lost securities; and besides, was it wise to let
him know that we have been careless in handling such things? It might
give the bank a bad name, don't you think, Mr. Winslow?" he asked,
quickly.

The teller laughed outright at this.

"You are showing wonderfully discreet abilities Richard, and I can
easily prophesy a great future for you. It happened by the merest chance
that I had met Mr. Cheever before, down in Boston, when he was known
under another name," he said, mysteriously.

"What? Mr. Cheever--isn't that his real name, and he a bank examiner?"

"So-called just at present. Dick, he begged me not to say a word to any
one in the bank, but I told him I _must_ take you into my confidence,
since we were working this thing together. He also declared that your
suspicions might be well founded, and that he would take measures to
investigate the interior of Mr. Graylock's home without that gentleman's
knowledge."

Then light suddenly burst in upon Dick.

"I begin to see what you are hinting at--he is no bank examiner at all,
but the officer Mr. Gibbs said he would have to send for!" he exclaimed.

"Exactly; a detective who is accustomed to handling such cases, and who
was once a genuine bank examiner, so that he knows just how to go about
these things so as not to excite the suspicions of bookkeeper or
tellers. Payson does not suspect the truth, nor do any of the others.
Indeed, I am not sure that even the cashier knows it. So you see he is
able to work inside the bank without suspicion being aroused as to his
real character. Of course, his idea was that it had been an inside job,
for it really seemed impossible that any one outside could have taken
the p