his knees. "We find
that one of his thefts was seven hundred dollars, and another five
hundred. We--I--trusted him, trusted him! And with what result?"

He slid his chair forward and bruised his fist by striking the desk with
all his strength.

"And the crudity of his methods! Preposterous! The old trick of entries
in pass-books and no entries in the records! He chose, for his own
safety, depositors who carried large balances and were not apt to draw
out anywhere near their total balance. It's the most abominable----"

Between the outbursts of the president and the cold, lifeless words of
the vice-president, Braceway managed to elicit these facts: they expected
to uncover more than the $1,200 shortage already established; when they
could examine all the pass-books now out of the bank, the total would
undoubtedly be found much larger; they demanded Morley's arrest at once;
in fact, if the law had allowed it, they would have sent him to the
scaffold within the next hour.

"Now," the detective reminded them, "he's also under suspicion of
murder."

"My God!" spluttered Beale. "What do we care about murder? Hasn't he
tried to murder this bank? Hasn't he assassinated, so far as he could,
its good name? Get him! Put him behind the bars!"

At last they agreed to Braceway's plan: Morley was to be arrested by one
of Major Ross' plain-clothes men when he stepped off the train from
Baltimore. It was to be done quietly, so that the news of it would not
be in the morning's papers.

He was then to be taken to one of the outlying police stations for the
sake of privacy, was to be told that he was charged with embezzlement;
and then, having been frightened by the arrest, he would be compelled to
undergo the cross-examination of Braceway and Bristow, who wanted to
prove or disprove his connection with the murder in Furmville.

Braceway returned to the hotel to await a report from either Major Ross
or Delaney.

Delaney came into the lobby and joined him. They went straight to
Braceway's room.

"We caught the five o'clock in Baltimore and got here a little before
six," the big man started his story. "One of the men from headquarters
stepped up to him and arrested him. I figured you had arranged for it, so
I beat it up here."

"What happened in Baltimore?" asked Braceway in a tone so friendly that
it dissipated much of the other's embarrassment.

"I declare, Mr. Braceway," he said humbly, "I don't know how it happened.
I nev