“Do you see the cross, in red ink, on the reverse side of the bills?”
“I marked the bills in that way, so as to be able to trace them.”
“They were put into the drawer at three o’clock yesterday afternoon. They must have been taken out some time between that hour and the time when you produced them in the gambling-house.”
“I am the victim of a conspiracy,” said Benton, turning pale.
“If it is a conspiracy to put my friend here on your track,” said Smithson, “then you have some color for your statement. Mr. Vincent is an old detective.”
Albert Benton was silenced. Ingenious as he was, there was nothing left for him to say.
“Now, Benton,” said Mr. Smithson, “how much have you taken from me during the time you have been in my employment?”
“Perhaps a hundred dollars,” answered Benton sullenly.
“I am very much mistaken if the amount is not four or five times as great. Are you prepared to make restitution?”
“Then I shall feel justified in ordering your arrest. Your guilt is aggravated by your seeking to throw the blame on Grant.”
“I have a valuable diamond at home. I will turn that over to you,” said Benton, with a sudden thought.
Benton took off his apron, put on his hat, and left the restaurant.
Half an hour—an hour—passed, and he did not return.
“Mr. Smithson,” said Vincent, “the fellow has given us the slip. He won’t come back, nor will you ever see anything of his diamond. I don’t believe, for my part, that he had any.”
The detective was right. Benton managed to borrow fifteen dollars of a friend, and within an hour he had left Sacramento for good.
Mr. Smithson supplied the place vacated by Benton without delay. He engaged a man of middle age who had come back from the mines with a fair sum of money. Before the first week was up, he made his employer an offer for the restaurant, and after some negotiation the transfer was made.
“I should like to have you continue Grant Colburn in your employment,” said Smithson, with a kindly consideration for his young waiter.
“I am sorry to say that I cannot do it,” answered his successor. “I have a young townsman at the mines who has not been very successful. I have promised to send for him in case I went into business.”
“It is of no consequence,” said Grant. “I have always wanted to go to the mines, and now I have money enough to make the venture.”