bout that time. We were not very well satisfied with this theory,
and so the detectives returned to New York. We next engaged two
detectives from New Orleans, but they were equally unsuccessful. We then
allowed the matter to rest until about a month ago, when we heard such a
favorable account of the manner in which you had conducted a case of
great difficulty, that we began to discuss the propriety of engaging you
in investigating this affair. The more we heard of you, the better we
were satisfied, and finally, we authorized Mr. McGregor to write to you
on the subject."

"Well, Mr. Bannatine, I shall do my best," I replied, "but you must not
expect me to work miracles. Now, I am going to ask you a number of
questions, and I wish you to answer them without regard to their
apparent drift. Who were George Gordon's intimate friends?"

"Mr. Flanders, Mr. Drysdale, Mr. Patterson, and Mr. Henry Caruthers; I
think they were the only ones he was really very intimate with; isn't it
so, Mr. Gordon?"

"Yes; George had very few cronies," replied Mr. Gordon.

"Who is Mr. Caruthers?" I asked.

"He is the son of a wealthy planter living a few miles from town,"
replied Mr. Bannatine.

"Where was he the afternoon previous to the murder?"

"He came into the bank for a few minutes," said Mr. Gordon, "and asked
George to spend Sunday with him on the plantation; then he rode home."

"Were there any strange men in or about the bank that day?"

"None, so far as we could learn; nearly every person that I can
recollect having seen that day was a customer, or a townsman whom I
knew."

"When George gave up carrying the safe keys home with him, where did he
leave them?"

"There is a secret drawer in that desk, which opens by pressing this
knob, thus," said Mr. McGregor, suiting the action to the word; "we used
to keep the keys there."

"Did any one beside you four gentlemen know this hiding place?"

"I am sure that no one else knew it," said Mr. McGregor.

"Was it necessary for George to open the safe that night, or could he
have done his work without going into the vault at all?"

"He had work to do on the journal and ledger, and he would have to use
the keys to get them out of the vault. He did not need to open the
inner safe where the money was, however."

"Does the outer vault key open both doors?"

"No; but they were kept on the same chain for convenience."

"Were the ledger and journal on George's desk when you entered t