Daylight broke at last; he could see it dimly through the dust-begrimed, boarded-up windows; but it was not until the sun had well risen that his cousin put in an appearance again. Lester was suffering intense pain from the terrible bruise on his head at the base of the brain, but he set his teeth hard together, determining that his mortal foe should not know it.

"Ah!" exclaimed Kendale, sneeringly. "Wide awake, I see!--probably the fixed habit of years. You have, no doubt, come to a more sensible frame of mind than I left you in last night, I trust, regarding the information I want concerning the combination of the big safe in the private office of Marsh & Co."

"I will never reveal it to you," cried Lester. "Never!"

For an instant a black, malignant scowl swept over Kendale's face, but after a moment's deep thought he turned on his heel again, laughing immoderately as he stepped to the door and held a low conversation with the two men who were still in the outer apartment, and in a trice they had joined Kendale, one of them still wearing the black mask which he had used the night before.

"We will proceed to relieve him of his private papers, keys, wallet, and so forth," said Kendale; and, as if in compliance with some previously arranged plan, the three set upon Lester, and in his almost helpless condition it was not difficult to overpower him and take from him his possessions, which Kendale quickly took charge of.

In the encounter, owing to his exhausted condition, Lester lost consciousness; and thus they left him, making him their prisoner by turning the key in the lock again when they reached the outer room.

"And now," said Halloran, removing the square of black linen from his face, "what's next on the programme?"

"Our friend, the cabby, will take me back to town with as much speed as possible. You, my dear fellow, will remain here on guard, making yourself as comfortable as is absolutely possible under the dismal circ.u.mstances of keeping guard and circ.u.mventing any attempt of our prisoner to escape. You know we have great need of him yet, in forcing him to disclose much that is advantageous to us. We can starve it out of him, if threats fail. As long as you have a good warm fire, plenty of provisions and plenty to read here you ought not to complain. You are having the easiest part of the bargain, Halloran, while I am doing all of the hazardous work."

"What if I should be suspected in the _role_ I am about to play for the Marsh millions? Why, it would mean State's prison instead of the fortune we have planned for so desperately."

"You will carry it through all right," declared Halloran, confidently.

"My nerve has never failed me so far, and I'm depending on that," said Kendale, mechanically.

Two hours later Kendale was breakfasting in a fashionable downtown restaurant, endeavoring to fortify himself with courage for the trying ordeal which he was about to face.

He had given Halloran his promise to abstain from touching even a drop of liquor, fully realizing it to be his mortal foe; but with Kendale a promise amounted to scarcely a flip of his white fingers when it ran contrary to his own desires.

He told himself that he must have a "bracer" to steady his nerves. It was not until a second and a third had been drunk that the proper amount of courage came to him to undertake the dastardly scheme. Half an hour later he walked boldly into the big dry goods emporium. He had no idea where the private office was, but his quick wits served him in this dilemma. Laying his hands on an errand boy who was just pa.s.sing out, whose cap bore the name of Marsh & Co., he said, carelessly:

"Here, lad, take my coat up to the private office; I will follow you. Go slowly, though, through the crowd of shoppers."

With a respectful bow the boy took the coat from him.

It so happened that one of the rules of the house was that the employees must not use the elevators, and by the time Kendale had climbed the fourth flight of stairs he was thoroughly exhausted, the perspiration fairly streaming down his face.

"Don't you know enough to go by way of the elevator, you young idiot?"

he roared, almost gasping for breath.

"You forget it's against the rules for us to do so, Mr. Armstrong,"

returned the lad.

"Rules be hanged!" cried his companion. "How many more floors up is it?"

The lad looked up into his face in the greatest amazement. Such a question on the lips of the head of the firm rather astounded him; but then, perhaps it had not occurred to the gentleman just how many flights of steps the boys were obliged to climb.

"We are only on the fourth floor, sir," he responded, "and it's up the other four flights, you know."

"Get into the elevator," commanded Kendale; and the boy turned, and walked over to it, closely followed by his companion, mentally wondering what in the world had come over courteous, kindly Mr. Lester Armstrong.

CHAPTER XV.

THE NEW BROOM DID NOT SWEEP CLEAN.

Clinton Kendale showed himself to be a thorough actor in carrying out a part carefully, as he followed the boy through the main office, where all of the bookkeepers were at work, toward the little office in the rear.

"Ah, this is indeed comfortable," he exclaimed, flinging himself into a luxurious leather armchair. "Throw the coat down anywhere, and go," he said, as the boy stood before him awaiting his dismissal.

"Great Scott! What an elegant nest Lester got himself into!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, looking about him. "I can enjoy it far better than he could, though I don't expect to be cooped up here more than an hour or two a day. Those fellows out there in the outer office are paid to do the work, and I'll be hanged if they shan't do it--every bit of it. I'll break 'em in my way, and they'll think it's new rules. By George!

they'll find plenty of new rules. Ha! ha! ha! I suppose I'd better be opening that desk."

Feeling in his pocket, he drew forth the bunch of keys which he had taken by force from his cousin. One by one he fitted each to the lock, but none of them seemed to work.

"Confound the thing!" he muttered. "My patience won't last much longer.

Then I'll stave it in with my heel.

"h.e.l.lo, there!" he cried, as, hearing a slight noise behind him, he wheeled around and found an elderly man, with a pen behind his ear, and a sheet of paper in his hand, standing there.

"Why the deuce didn't you knock?" he cried, angrily and flushing hotly, for he realized this man must have witnessed his vain attempts to open the desk. "What do you want?" he asked sharply and ill-humoredly.

Mr. Conway, the old cashier--for it was he--was looking at him with dilated, amazed eyes; but in a moment he recovered himself.

"You said to come into your office quite as soon as you came this morning, as you wished to see me on particular business, Mr. Armstrong,"

he replied in the low voice habitual with him.

For an instant the bogus Lester Armstrong's brows were knit closely together; then he said, coolly, sharply: "I've changed my mind; I don't want to see you."

Still the man lingered.

"Pardon me," he said. "I thought probably it might be in regard to those notes of Jordan & Beckwith which you were considering negotiating for."

"Well, you'll have to think again," exclaimed the other, tartly.

Mr. Conway turned toward the door, but as he stretched out his hand to grasp the k.n.o.b his employer sang out, sharply:

"Hold on, there! Come here and see if you can do anything with this confounded desk. It's got the jim-jams or something. I've been monkeying with it for the last half hour, and can do nothing with it." And as he uttered the words, he held out the bunch of keys toward him.

If Mr. Conway had been startled before, he was certainly alarmed now, and he looked at his companion in amazement which could not be concealed.

"Well," cried the other, his temper rising, the result of the brandy diffusing itself through his brain, "what are you staring at me like that for? Why don't you take the keys and go ahead?"

Quite as soon as speech would come to him the old cashier said, slowly:

"You seem to forget, Mr. Armstrong, that the keys have been done away with some time, and the desk now opens with a secret spring which you yourself devised."

"Well, come here and open it. My fingers are all thumbs to-day,"

replied his companion, looking at him doggedly.