"how did you find frederic?" was mrs. vernon's first question when robert joined her.

"he seems to be doing very well," answered the young secretary. "i don't think he was quite as sick as he made out to be."

"he was certainly sick when he came here. and he must have been very sick to fall and hurt himself on the neck and cheek."

"perhaps you are right, mrs. vernon, i never had much to do with sick people."

"did he ask you anything about yourself?"

"he asked me about the diamond scarfpin. i told him that you had given it to me."

"if frederic really reforms i will get him one, too. what else did he ask about, robert?"

"well, he asked about you."

"and what did you say?"

"maybe i had better not repeat our talk, mrs. vernon."

"did you quarrel?"

"he was quite angry because i would not tell him about your will. he wanted to know if you had changed it lately."

"and what did you tell him?"

"that i knew nothing of a will."

mrs. vernon became thoughtful.

"i presume it would be a shame to cut him off," she said slowly.

"have you done that?"

"not yet. in my last will, which mr. farley holds, he is almost my sole heir. but i have been thinking of changing my will and leaving him only a quarter of my estate,--one-half of the whole estate to go to charitable institutions, and the remaining quarter to go to my friends, including yourself."

"i did not expect anything to be left to me, mrs. vernon. you have given me enough--in fact, more than enough--already."

"you have been like a son to me, robert. but about frederic--if he really and truly reforms, i think i will leave him the bulk of my fortune."

"i would not be too hasty. you see, i haven't forgotten the plot he and the doctor hatched against you."

"i will be very careful. i shall watch him for a year, and if during that time he does not reform thoroughly, i shall cut him off with a very small allowance, say a thousand dollars."

"a thousand dollars wouldn't be bad for most young fellows. but to him it will be nothing. by the way, he seems to have quite some money."

"i have noticed that, too, and it has puzzled me greatly, for, as you are aware, i have cut down his allowance."

"perhaps somebody has loaned him some money."

"it is possible. but i know, through mr. farley, that he was in debt to many of his friends, and these folks will not go on loaning money forever."

"they may be banking on his prospects."

"then they may get left, as the saying goes. i sincerely wish that frederic would settle down to some business and make a man of himself."

here the conversation changed, and soon after mrs. vernon went into the house, while robert walked down to the river to take a row. left to himself, frederic vernon stole back to his boarding quarters.

"so she will cut me off with a paltry thousand dollars unless i reform, eh, and she is going to watch me for a whole year," he muttered to himself. "i wonder when she will hear from that forged check? i hope it doesn't come in before i have time to arrange my future plans."

the more he thought of the matter, the more did the forged check worry him. he had hoped to get possession of his aunt's mail by applying at the local post-office, but this scheme had fallen through, as the mail was delivered only to mrs. vernon or to robert, and orders were to deliver it to no one else.

several days went by, and now frederic came to see his aunt regularly morning, afternoon, and evening. from her he learned that she thought of going to paris, and he eagerly favored the scheme, hoping that through the change he might be able to get the mail.

but he was doomed to bitter disappointment. before any change could be made there came a long letter from mr. farley, showing how money matters stood. among other things, this showed a deficiency in one bank account of six hundred dollars.

robert looked over this communication with the lady, for this was a part of his work, mrs. vernon trusting him more and more every day with her private affairs.

"i cannot understand this," she said, after referring to her various bank accounts.

"understand what, mrs. vernon?" he asked.

"the account at the american exchange bank is just six hundred dollars short."

"are you certain the stubs have been footed up properly?" asked robert, in much surprise.

"you footed them up yourself."

"so i did. but i will foot them up again."

the young secretary did so. "according to your check book, you have a balance there of two thousand and three hundred dollars," he said, when he had concluded his calculations.

"exactly, and according to the bank rendering, made through mr. farley, the sum is seventeen hundred dollars--just six hundred dollars less. i cannot understand it."

robert shook his head slowly, for he was as much puzzled as the lady.

"let us look over the other accounts," he ventured. "perhaps the money was transferred without a showing being made,--although i don't see how that could be."

there were six other bank accounts, running up to many thousands of dollars, but each was correct to the cent.

"you never drew a check and forgot to charge it up against the account, did you?" asked robert.

"there is the book. aren't all the stubs filled--i mean those from which the checks have been detached?"

robert looked through the book with care.

"yes, every one is filled out," he said.

"then i don't understand it." mrs. vernon leaped to her feet suddenly. "unless----" she stopped short.

"unless----" repeated robert, and then he, too, became silent. both had thought of frederic vernon at the same time.

"i do not think he would do it," went on the lady, almost pitifully. "he has our family blood running in his veins. he would not be guilty of such a terrible crime."

robert said nothing, but he had his own opinion of the nephew who would plot to put his aunt in the insane asylum just to get hold of her money.

"what do you advise, robert?" she asked, as she began to pace the floor nervously.

"i would advise you to send to chicago at once for an accounting from the bank, giving the numbers of the checks you have really issued. if you don't want the bank to know that something is wrong, transact the business through mr. farley."

"i will do so. i will send a cablegram to america this very day."

mrs. vernon set to work to prepare her cablegram with great care. of course, the sending of such a message way off to chicago would be expensive, but just now she did not think of the money, she wanted to know the truth concerning the shortage.

"if frederic is guilty i will cut him off without a dollar," she said quietly, but so firmly that robert felt she meant what she said.

robert was commissioned to take the cablegram to the nearest telegraph office which could forward it, and on the way he met frederic vernon, who was out walking.

"hullo, frost, come and take a walk with me," said the young man patronizingly, as our hero approached.

"thank you, but i just as lief walk alone," answered robert shortly.

"don't want to be sociable, eh? all right. where are you bound?"

"that is my business."

"humph!" frederic vernon stared at him for a moment. then he walked on without further words. but at the corner he looked back and saw robert enter the telegraph office.

"something is in the wind," he muttered to himself, and retraced his steps. getting behind several other people, he drew close to the youth and saw him send the message and pay a good round price for it.

"that message is going to chicago, and i know it," he told himself, after following robert to the road once more. "now what did it contain? has my aunt got wind of that forged check already? if so, i must act quickly, or my cake will be dough. whatever comes, she must never live to alter her will."

all that night he brooded over the way matters had turned. he felt that he would be made a beggar did his aunt discover the forgery. but so far the only will she had made was in his favor. she must not be allowed to make another.

"i must watch her closely," he told himself. "she frequently goes out driving, and along the cliff back of the town, too. what if some day her team took fright and went over the cliff? i don't believe she would ever live to tell the tale, and the fortune would be mine!"

if frederic vernon was bitter against his aunt, he was also bitter against robert, for he now knew that our hero had exposed the plot to get mrs. vernon into an insane asylum.

"he goes driving with her," thought the desperate man. "they can both go over the cliff together!"