the next day there was a dearth of assistants in the office. one was sick, one had pleaded a long-delayed vacation, two had business for the concern which took them into different quarters of the city, and mr. beers, who was next in authority to mr. fellows, had been summoned to serve on the grand jury. perhaps it was this knowledge that mr. beers would be absent which had led to the manager's easiness in regard to the others. for he had been easy, or so miss lee thought when she arrived in the morning and saw the office almost empty. however, it did not trouble her much. on the contrary, the quiet and non-surveillance of the two clerks who did the business of the day seemed rather to elate her, and she went about her work, copying letters and taking down notes with an alacrity and air of cheerful hope which caused the manager to cast toward her more than one suspicious look from his desk in the adjoining room. he was not busy, though he had been the first to arrive that morning; and he had brought with him a large square package which he had taken into the room which held the safe. he pretended to be busy, but any one watching him closely would have noticed that his eyes, and not his hands, were all that were engaged, and they were anywhere but on his desk or the letter he appeared to be reading. an observer would also have noticed that his nervousness was of the extreme sort, and that the trembling which shook his whole body increased visibly whenever his glance fell on the door of mr. beers's private room, opening at his back. no one was supposed to be in that room to-day, and had miss lee not been one minute late this especial morning, perhaps there might not have been. but in that one minute's grace a man had entered the office who had not gone out again, and where could he be if not in that one closed room?

the room which held the safe was open as usual, and many of mr. fellows's glances traveled that way. he had entered it once only since his first hurried visit of the early morning, but only to pull down the shade over the glass in the door communicating with the outside hall. this was his usual custom, and it attracted no attention. why shouldn't he enter it again? he thought he would. a fascination was upon him. the problem he had given beau johnson to solve was to receive a test this day which would make him a rich man or a felon; but before that hour why not make his own study, his own investigation? true, he had made these many times before, but not with such lights to guide him. he might learn——

but no, the very conceit was folly. he knew his own limitations, else he had not called in the services of this crook. he could learn nothing by himself, but he might look the place over and see if all was in shape for the great attempt. that was only his duty. beau johnson had a right to expect that of him. if the scrub woman had moved anything——

at the thought that this possibly might have happened, he jumped to his feet and hurried into the outer office;but when he turned toward the room of the safe, he met miss lee's eye fixed upon him with such a keen, inquiring look that he faltered in his determination, and went in another direction instead. she knew that he had no business in that room, and she also knew that he knew she knew this. any pretense that he had would only rouse her suspicions, and these must be lulled to the point of security, or she might not enter there herself, and on her entering there everything depended. almost immediately upon the thought he was back in his seat, and the weary moments crept on. would she never make her accustomed visit to that room? no cablegram had come that morning, but she would find some reason for going in. of that he had been assured by johnson. why, he had not been told. "she will go in," beau johnson had said, and fellows believed him. he believed everything the other said, otherwise he could not have gone on with this business. but she was very long about it. harlowe would be coming back——