tended to throw suspicion upon Frederick Dalton.

It came out that on the morning of that very day Mr. Henderson had
discovered a check for two thousand pounds that had been forged in his
name. Being a very choleric man, he felt more than the anger which is
natural under such circumstances, and vowed vengeance to the uttermost
upon the forger. That same morning Mr. Frederick Dalton came to see him,
and was shown into his private office. He had just arrived in the city,
and had come on purpose to pay this visit. The interview was a
protracted one, and the clerks outside heard the voice of Mr. Henderson
in a very high key, and in a strain of what sounded like angry menace
and denunciations of vengeance, though they could not make out any
words. At last the office door opened, and Dalton came out. He was very
pale, and much agitated. One of the clerks heard him say, in a low
voice,

"_Only one day--till this time to-morrow_."

Whereupon Mr. Henderson roared out in a loud voice, which all the clerks
heard,

"_No, Sir! Not one day, not one hour, if I die for it!_"

Upon this Dalton walked away, looking paler and more agitated than ever.

In the course of the day Mr. Henderson told his confidential clerk that
the check had just been used by Dalton, who, however, denied that he was
the forger; that the visit of Dalton professed to be on behalf of the
guilty party, whom he wished to screen. Dalton had refused to give the
culprit's name, and offered to pay the amount of the check, or any