"How long is it since you--did--whatever it was you did, that kept you down?" asked the younger man, at length.
"I did nothing. It was an accident. Unless," added Josephus with a smile--"unless it was the devil. But devils don't care to meddle with junior clerks."
"It was one day in June; I remember the day quite well. I was alone in my office, the same office as I am in still. The others, younger than myself, and I was then twenty-one, were gone off on business. The safe stood close to my desk. There was a bundle of papers in it sealed up, and marked 'Mr. Messenger, Private,' which had been there a goodish while, so that I supposed they were not important: some of the books were there as well, and Mr. Messenger himself had sent down, only an hour before ... before.... It happened, a packet of notes to be paid into the bank. The money had been brought in by our country collectors--fourteen thousand pounds, in country bank-notes. Now remember, I was sitting at the desk and the safe was locked, and the keys were in the desk, and no one was in the office except me. And I will swear that the notes were in the safe. I told Mr. Messenger that I would take my oath to it, and I would still." Josephus grew almost animated as he approached the important point in his history.
"Things being so--remember, no one but me in the office, and the keys----"
"Mr. Messenger didn't send for junior clerks. He used to send for the heads of departments, who sent for the chief clerks, who ordered the juniors. That was the way in those days. No, I was sent for to the chief clerk's office and given a packet of letters for copying. That took three minutes. When I came back the office was still empty, the safe was locked, and the keys in my desk."
"All gone, every farthing--with Mr. Messenger's private papers."
"No one saw anybody going into the office or coming out. Nothing else was taken."
"Come--with fourteen thousand pounds in his hand, no reasonable thief would ask for more."
"And what is more extraordinary still, not one of those notes has ever since been presented for payment."
"First, I was to be sacked at once; then I was to be watched and searched; next, I was to be kept on until the notes were presented and the thief caught. I have been kept on, the notes have not been presented; and I've had the same pay, neither more nor less, all the time. That's all the story. Now, there's to be an end of that. I'm to be sent away."