.

'TWIXT THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP SEA.
Saniel, who was on his guard and expected some sort of roguery from this man, had not foreseen that these expressions of interest were leading up to a proposal of marriage, and an exclamation of surprise escaped him.

But it was lost in the sound of the door-bell, which rang at that moment.
Caffie rose.

"How disagreeable it is not to have a clerk!" he said.
He went to open the door with an eagerness that he had not shown to Saniel, which proved that he had no fear of admitting people when he was not alone.
It was a clerk from the bank.
"You will permit me," Caffie said, on returning to his office.

"It will take but an instant." The clerk took a paper from his portfolio and handed it to Caffie.
Caffie drew a key from the pocket of his vest, with which he opened the iron safe placed behind his desk, and turning his back to Saniel and the clerk counted the bills which they heard rustle in his hands.