"Who by?"
"Markham."
"Oh, then, he"s doing some other errand first," said Darry. "Sit down, if you"re going to wait for him."
"No, I"ll watch them doing things," answered Frank, with an a.s.sumed lightness of tone.
He strolled about the neat little office, pretending to be interested.
It was a dead failure. A lump of lead seemed bearing him down. Frank glanced at his watch. An hour had pa.s.sed since he had sent Markham on his errand.
"Be back soon, Darry," he said, and went out of the printing office with a dull, sick feeling at heart.
Frank returned to his office. Markham was not there. He went back to the print shop.
"Markham been here yet?" he inquired in a failing voice to Darry.
"Not yet, Frank."
"Then something"s wrong," suddenly burst out Frank, unable longer to endure the strain of suspense and dread.
"Why, how pale you are," began Darry, rising from his chair.
"Yes, Darry," said Frank in a quivering tone--"Markham is missing, and with him my mailing lists and over two hundred dollars in cash."
CHAPTER XX
A BAD BUSINESS
Frank came down to the office the next morning looking haggard and troubled. Stet was hanging around the door.
"Darry Haven told me to wait till you came down, and then let him know,"
said the little fellow.
"All right," nodded Frank in a dull way.
Stet darted off with his usual elfish nimbleness. Frank unlocked the door and sat down before his desk rather gloomily. He mechanically arranged some papers. Darry was with him before he had accomplished much. Stet accompanied him.
"Well, Frank," questioned Darry, "any word of Markham?"
"Not a trace, Darry."
"Strange, isn"t it?" observed Darry in a musing way. "I declare I can"t understand it."
"Nor I," said Frank. "It"s him I"m thinking of, not of myself. I haven"t slept a wink all night. Honest, Darry, if he was an own brother I couldn"t feel more anxious. Mother is quite as worried. I went everywhere about town last evening till the stores shut up. I telephoned several neighboring towns. I saw trainmen around the depot."
"And found no one who had seen Markham after you sent him on that errand with the money and the mailing lists?"
"Not a soul, Darry."
"How do you explain it?"
"I can"t. I suppose some people who don"t know Markham as I do, would say I was a fool to take up a stranger and put so much trust in him, that it served me right to have him run away with all I have in the world first chance he got. Well, let me tell you, Darry, that boy wouldn"t do me a wrong turn wilfully for a million dollars, and I know it."
Darry sighed and was silent. He had liked Markham, but his young business career had brought him in contact with so many weak and absolutely bad people, that secretly he feared that Markham had yielded to temptation, and they would not hear of him again.
"Have you no theory as to the reason why Markham should be missing so mysteriously?" he asked.
"Why, yes, I have, in a way, Darry," responded Frank, "but it is all guess-work. I told you last night about some secret in his life."
"Yes, I know," nodded Darry.
"I also told you that I was convinced that Dale Wacker knew Markham, and that Markham for some reason dreaded meeting him."
"It certainly looked that way, judging from Markham"s actions."
"Very well, I think they ran into each other after Markham went on the errand to you. Wacker is a blackmailer, as his talk to me about the puzzle plainly shows. Does he know something about Markham that might make him trouble? It certainly looks that way. He may have terrorized Markham into running away."
"All right, if that is true, then Markham, if he is an honest boy, will send back your money and the mailing lists."
"Of course he will," declared Frank. "I"ve been expecting to receive them every hour."
"And if he doesn"t," suggested Darry, somewhat skeptically.
"If he doesn"t," repeated Frank, slowly but steadily, "then make up your mind to one thing."
"And what is that?"
"That Markham is in the power of some one who holds him a prisoner, and can"t get word to me."
"H"m," said Darry simply. Frank"s eyes flashed.
"Furthermore," he went on, "a.s.suming that, I shall make it my business to investigate along that line, I shall never lose faith in Markham"s honesty and fidelity to me till I have used every endeavor to find out when, where and why he dropped out of sight so mysteriously."
"You"re a staunch friend, you are," commented Darry. "In the meantime, though, Frank, your capital is gone. Worse than that, the whole basis of your business has gone with it."
"Yes, the mailing lists," said Frank. "I"ve thought that all out, Darry.
You will have to stop work on the catalogue and the rest of the printing. I can"t pay for the work."
"We"ll trust you."
"No," said Frank steadily, "I can"t run into debt."
"We might spare a little cash till--till you hear from the other."