"Can you direct me to Mr. Craven's office?"
"It is that small building on the left-hand side of the street, but I am not sure whether he is there yet."
Curious to know how the boy came to know so much of Mr. Craven's movements, the stranger said:
It was the first time he had ever made the statement, and, true as he knew it to be, he made it with rising color and a strange reluctance.
"Oh, indeed!" returned the stranger, looking very much surprised. "He is your step-father?"
"Yes; he married my mother," said Frank, hurriedly.
"Then you think he may not have come to the office yet?"
"There he is, just opening the door," said Ben, pointing to Mr. Craven, who, unaware of the interest his appearance excited, was just opening the door of the office, in which he was really beginning to do a little business. His marriage to a woman of property, and the reports which had leaked out that he had a competence of his own, had inspired a degree of confidence in him which before had not existed.
"Thank you," said the stranger. "As he is in, I will call upon him."
"So he's married again, the sly villain!" muttered the stranger, as, after leaving the boys, he proceeded on his way to Mr. Craven's office. "That will be good news for my sister, won't it? And so that's his step-son? A nice-looking, well-dressed boy. Likely Craven has feathered his nest, and married a fortune. If so, all the better. I may get a few feathers for my own nest, if I work my cards right."
Meanwhile Mr. Craven had seated himself at an office table, and was looking over a paper of instructions, having been commissioned to write a will for one of the town's people. He had drawn out a printed form, and had just dipped his pen in the ink, when a knock was heard at the outer door that opened upon the street.
"I suppose it's Mr. Negley, come for the will. He'll have to wait," thought Craven, and as the thought passed through his mind, he said, "Come in!"
He mechanically raised his eyes, and his glance rested upon the man whom we have introduced in the last chapter.
A remarkable change came over Mr. Craven's face. First surprise, then palpable dismay, drove the color from his cheeks, and he stood up in silent consternation.
The other appeared to enjoy the sensation caused by his arrival, and laughed.