nto the alleyway or into the
yard. There was a door from the alleyway into the store, opposite to
the desks of the clerks, and within a few feet of the door leading from
the store into the private office.

Paul passed through this entrance, and found himself face to face with
the old book-keeper, Van Zandt, who was following all his movements
with a questioning gaze.

"Good-afternoon, Major," said Paul, pleasantly. "Have you been out for
your lunch yet?"

"I always get my dinner at noon," the book-keeper gruffly answered,
returning to his books.

As Paul walked on he could not but think that the Major's manner was
ungracious. And the young man remembered how cheerful the old man had
been, and how courteous always, when the son of the senior partner,
while still a school-boy, used to come to the office on Saturdays.

Paul had always delighted in the office, and the store, and the yard
behind, and he had spent many a holiday there, and Major Van Zandt had
always been glad to see him, and had willingly answered his myriad
questions.

Paul wondered why the book-keeper's manner was now so different. Van
Zandt was older, but he was not so very old, not more than sixty, and
old age in itself is not sufficient to make a man surly and to sour his
temper. That the Major had had trouble in his family was well known.
His wife had been flighty and foolish, and it was believed that she had
run away from him; and his only son was a wild lad, who had been
employed by Whittier, Wheatcroft & Co., out of regard for the father,
and who had disgraced himself beyond forgiveness. Paul recalled vaguely
that the young fellow had gone West somewhere, and had been shot in a
mining-camp after a drunken brawl in a gambling-house.

As Paul entered the private office he found the porter there, putting
coal on the fire.

Stepping back to close the glass door behind him, that they might be
alone, he said:

"Mike, who shuts up the office at night?"

"Sure I do, Mr. Paul," was the prompt reply.

"And you open it in the morning?" the young man asked.

"I do that!" Mike responded.

"Do you see that these windows are always fastened on the inside?" was
the next query.

"Yes, Mr. Paul," the porter replied.

"Well," and the inquirer hesitated briefly before putting this
question, "have you found any of these windows unfastened any morning
lately when you came here?"

"And how did you know that?" Mike returned, in surprise.

"What morni