CHAPTER XXI.
Weeks passed after this second visit to the Allen House, but the call was not returned by Mrs.Dewey.We talked the matter over, occasionally, and concluded that, for some reason best known to herself, the friendly overtures of Constance were not agreeable to the lady.

She was not often seen abroad, and when she did appear, the closed windows of her carriage usually hid her face from careful observation.
Of late, Mr.Dewey was away from S----more than usual, business connected with the firm of which he was a member requiring his frequent presence in New York.

He did not remain absent over two or three days at a time.
Nearly opposite to where I resided lived Mr.Joshua Kling, the Cashier of the new Clinton Bank.

He and Mr.Dewey seemed to be on particularly friendly terms.

Often I noticed the visits of Mr.Dewey to the Cashier's house after bank hours, and many times in paying evening calls would I meet the two gentlemen, arm in arm, engaged in close conversation.
It was pretty generally understood in S----that the Clinton Bank was in the hands or parties in New York, and that a large proportion of the discounts made were of paper bearing the endorsement of Floyd, Lawson, Lee, & Co., which was passed by the directors as the legitimate business paper received by that house in its extensive business operations; or of paper drawn to the order of John Floyd & Co., given in payment of goods manufactured at the mills in S----.