udice of
policy. He shut his door and hurried to the window.

Though two men were watching her going-away, and though she must have
been conscious of the fact, she did not turn her head to glance behind
her.

At any rate, the thing was over, whatever had happened, the cashier
reflected with relief. Nevertheless, curiosity was nagging at him; he
felt an impulse to go in and inspect the condition of Tasper Britt by
way of securing a hint.

Vaniman, however, shook his head and dropped into the routine of his
duties. The ruts of life in Egypt, especially in the winter, were
deep ones. The cashier had become contented with his little circle of
occupation and recreation.

He carried the books into the vault. He wound the clock that controlled
the mechanism of bolts and bars, and pushed the big outer door shut and
made certain that it was secure.

Having finished as cashier, he became janitor.

Egypt had no electric lights. Vaniman trimmed the kerosene reflector
lamp and set it on the table so that the front of the safe would be
illuminated for the benefit of the village's night watchman.

Then he put on his cap and overcoat and locked the grille door and the
bank door after he had passed each portal. His last chore of the day was
always a trip into the basement to make sure that the dying fire in the
wood furnace was carefully closed in for the night.

The basement stairs led from the rear of the corridor. When Vaniman
returned up the stairs he had settled on a small matter of business
which would serve as a valid excuse for entering the presence of
President Britt. But he did not need to employ the excuse. Britt stood
in his open door and called to the cashier and walked back to his chair,
leaving Vaniman to follow, and the employee obeyed the summons with
alacrity; he was consumed with desire to get a line on the situation
that had been troubling him.

An observer would have called the contest of mutual inspection a
fifty-fifty break--perhaps with a shade in favor of Britt, for the
usurer's face was like leather and his goggling marbles of eyes under
the lids that resembled little tents did not flicker.

"What can I do for you?" Britt demanded, and the query made for the
young man's discomposure.

"Why, you called me in, sir!"

"Uh-huh!" the president admitted, "but somehow I had the impression
that you said you wanted to see me after the bank closed." He was taking
account of stock of Vaniman's personality,