Those
at hand were few, simple. First, the safe had been opened by some one
who knew the combination. Three persons existed who might have opened
it--or betrayed its combination: Scattergood, himself, Sarah Pound....
Second, he knew he had not opened it nor betrayed the combination.
Third, he was equally certain Scattergood had not done so.... Fourth--he
groaned!...
Bob comprehended what had happened; why Farley Curtis had wooed so
persistently Sarah Pound. It was not out of love nor desire, but for a
more sordid purpose ... it was to win her love, to blind her to honor,
to make a tool of her, and through her to secure possession of that bit
of paper which stood between him and riches.
Presently Sarah Pound entered. Bob could not force himself to look at
her; did not speak. She gazed at him curiously, and when she saw the
grayness of his face, the lines about his mouth, and eyes that advanced
his age by twenty years, she felt a little catch at her heart, a
breathlessness, a sudden alarm.
"Miss Pound," he said, in a voice which he himself could not recognize
as his own, "you needn't take off your hat.... You--you actually came
back here! You were bold enough to come again to this office.
Pages:
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413