In this case you have
selected the wrong customer."
"What!" exclaimed Robert, hardly crediting the testimony of his ears;
"do you mean to deny that my father deposited five thousand dollars with
you just before sailing on his last voyage?"
"I certainly do, and in the most unqualified terms. Had such been the
case, do you think I would have kept the knowledge of it from your
mother so long after your father's supposed death?"
"There might be reasons for that," said Robert, significantly.
"None of your impertinent insinuations, you young rascal," said Mr.
Davis, hotly. "The best advice I can give you is, to say nothing to any
one about this extraordinary claim. It will only injure you, and I shall
be compelled to resort to legal measures to punish you for circulating
stories calculated to injure my reputation."
If the superintendent expected to intimidate Robert by this menace he
was entirely mistaken in the character of our young hero. He bore the
angry words and threatening glances of his enemy without quailing, as
resolute and determined as ever.
"Mr. Davis," he said, "if there is no truth in this story, do you think
my father, with death before his eyes, would have written it to my
mother?"
"I have no evidence, except your word, that any such letter has been
received."
"I can show it to you, if you desire it, in my father's handwriting.
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