assure me you don't quite
dislike me, you know."

As he spoke he flung his arm about the girl's slender waist, and it was
then that Margery's piercing scream rang out so loudly upon her father's
ears, fairly electrifying him as he stood with his hand upon the knob of
the door of the private office.

CHAPTER XX.

A FATHER'S RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION

For an instant the old cashier stood like one suddenly paralyzed before
the door of the private office from which that terrified scream had
issued.

Great God! was he mad or dreaming, that he should imagine he heard his
daughter Margery's voice calling for help from within?

But even as he stood there, trembling, irresolute, the piercing cry was
repeated more shrilly, more piteous than before, and it cut through the
frightened father's heart like the thrust of a dagger.

"I am coming, I am here, Margery!" he answered, twisting the bronze knob
fiercely; But the door did not yield to his touch as usual, and to his
horror he realized that it was locked upon the inside!

With the fury of a tiger, David Conway threw himself against it with all
his strength; strong as the lock was, it could not withstand the weight
that was brought to bear upon it, and in an instant it was snapped
asunder, the door falling in with a crash.

With a terrible imprecation Kendale wheeled about, his grasp around the
girl's waist slackening for a single instant.

And in that instant Margery sprang from him, darting into the arms of
her father, who had leaped over the threshold.

"How dare you enter here?" shrieked Kendale, fairly beside himself with
baffled rage.

The old cashier thrust his daughter behind him and walked up to the
foiled villain, gazing him steadily, unflinchingly in the eye.

"I am here just in time to defend my child," he cried, white to the
lips, "and here to chastise you, you villain, old man as I am"--and with
the rapidity of lightning his clinched fist fell upon the face of the
man before him with stinging blows, that resounded with all the strength
and force of a steel hammer.

Kendale, who was by this time entirely under the influence of the brandy
he had imbibed, was no match for the enraged cashier, who followed up
his advantage by ringing blows, which fell as thick and fast as driving
hail, until the other, coward as he was, fell down on his knees before
him, shrieking out for mercy.

The unusual disturbance soon brought a throng of cashiers, bookkeepe