This "Ah" of the cashier's, with its many gradations of tone,
had been a most useful weapon in his innumerable financial battles. It
could be made to mean anything--everything; flung out at haphazard it
always caught his opponent off guard; it was a subtle thrust, and while
one pondered over its possible meaning, Lane could formulate in his mind
more decisive expressions.
"Ah," he repeated, adding, "if you did not steal the money, who did?
And if you did not take it, why did you put it back?"
With an expressive sweep of the hand outward the cashier stood waiting,
his tall, narrow head, topped by carefully brushed gray hair, thrust
forward in the attitude of a parrot about to strike with its beak.
"I can't answer those questions," answered the man he was grilling.
"The money to pay Mr. Porter's note is here; and I fancy that is all the
bank needs to concern itself about. It was entrusted to me, and now I
am prepared to turn it over."
"Quite true; ah, yes, quite true; but it might have been vastly
different. That is the point that most concerns the bank. Whoever took
the money"--and he bowed, deprecatingly, with ironical consideration to
Mortimer--"must have needed a thousand dollars for--well, some
speculative purpose, perhaps.
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