The business I have won't keep him long. I am a member of the firm of King & Co., bankers and brokers, 97 Wall Street. Look here," giving him a card, "Mr. Talman sent me here. I want you to make up some accounts for our firm. There's been a big failure in Montreal." Montreal!" said Mr. Sawyer. "Why you don't want me to go to Montreal?"

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"He sha'n't go to Montreal," interposed Mrs. Sawyer, "whether he likes it or not."

"Why, my dear Mr. Sawyer," said the little man adroitly, "I never said I wanted you to go to Montreal. The books are all brought to Albany; one of the senators is the assignee; they are to be examined there and balanced there. I want you to go there and take Mrs. Sawyer with you. You'll be liberally paid; but you must go to-morrow, the first thing in the morning. To-morrow is Saturday. The accountants on the other side, from New Orleans, arrived there yesterday."

The notion of a big failure in Montreal, and a New York senator the assignee, and accountants from New Orleans, a little perplexed Mr. Sawyer. There was a vastness about it which, while it almost intimidated him, yet gave the impression of lucrative business.

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I guess he ain't agoing to-morrow neither," observed Mrs. Sawyer, "if he goes at all. You drink your tea, Seth," addressing her husband, "and let me fix this with this stranger, anyhow," said Mrs. Sawyer.

After much discussion, and promises and pressure upon the part of the little man, and a payment on account of two hundred dollars into the hands of Mrs. Sawyer, she promised on her husband's behalf that he should leave by the seven o'clock train the next morning for Albany. The little man was to meet him and see him off, and Mrs. Sawyer was to join her husband upon the following morning.

Some experience of human nature having made the little man suspicious, very early on the Saturday morning he was at Mr. Sawyer's house, took a receipt for the two hundred dollars he had paid in advance, and arranged that the accountant was to locate himself in Albany, and draw upon the firm of King & Co. every week for one hundred dollars until the business was completed; the little man promising to explain to Talman the reason of his leaving New York and to postpone the balancing of the books in Wall Street until the following month.

The little man went with him to the railway, took the ticket, saw him into the carriage, and waited until it left the station.

"Whatever happens," thought he, "the old accountant can't very well be in New York before Tuesday, as he expects his wife in Albany on the Monday; and he'll get fits' if she don't find him there, whether the assignee, and the accountants from New Orleans and the books of the insolvent firm have arrived there or not."

"Is he gone?" asked Mac of the little man, as the latter

entered the office of King & Co. punctually at nine o'clock on the Saturday morning.

"Yes, I saw him off," he replied, and gave him the three hundred dollars."

“Mr. L― has arrived from Boston," said Mac--. “You go in and explain to Talman that the accountant has left New York on inportant business for our firm, and can't be back till next Saturday; and tell Talman that we will take the six hundred thousand dollars worth of bonds directly they are ready. We shall want fifty thousand Eries' and 'Rock Islands' this morning. Ask for the sale note, and the cheque will be ready."

The little man came back and informed Mac that the bonds would be ready, and that Talman had gone out to arrange for the larger amount for Monday.

Three strange gentlemen were seated in the office of King & Co., busily engaged in examining accounts, drawing up sale notes, writing cheques, and scrutinizing bonds and other securities which lay in ostentatious profusion upon the large table.

One of them, a tall middle-aged man, remarkably well dressed, appeared to control the business arrangements then in apparent activity in the office. Talman looked in, and announced that the bonds ordered had come in, and gave Mac- -the sale note.

"Let me introduce you," said Mac-," to one of our correspondents, Mr. Watson, from New Orleans; he has come here to invest a large amount in bonds. Shall you have them ready for us?" "Yes," said Talman, "they will be ready on Monday at one

o'clock."

Mac followed him into his office, accompanied by Mr. Watson, and they were both introduced by Talman to his employer.

"I have brought you," said Mac, addressing the old broker," a certified cheque for the bonds in this sale note; you will find it all right."

"Yes, sir," said Mr. L, carefully examining the cheque, "there are the bonds. I am glad to do business with you; I see you have taken my office-Talman speaks very highly of you. I hope we shall have many such transactions," said he, as he put the cheque with others into the large safe at the back of his office.

Mr. Watson, who had taken up the share list from the table, and was apparently reading it, was in fact minutely surveying the safe, its position, and contents.

Before the cheque could be presented at the bank on which it was drawn, Mac had deposited the bonds and obtained an advance of thirty-five thousand dollars upon them.

Thus originated the business relations between the firm of King & Co. and the Wall Street millionnaire-the first transaction being mutually satisfactory.

Mr. Watson and Mac had finished their dinner at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on the Sunday evening, when Talman, according to appointment, joined them.

"To-morrow," said Mac, "we shall complete that little transaction about the bonds, I suppose?"

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Yes," said Talman, "they will be all ready."

"Watson, will you give us half an hour upon a little matter of business?" said Mac

"Oh yes," replied Watson, "I'll play a game of billiards and come back." He retired.

66 Now," said Maccarefully looking round the room that no listeners were near them, "to-morrow I shall bring this thing off, and you will have one hundred thousand dollars. When I give the cheque to the old man, you go out with it to get it certified. Mind you go with it yourself, and be absent exactly half an hour. You have told him it's all right."

"Yes," replied Talman, "he told me he was pleased to do business with you."

"Where shall I send the money to you? I have placed the bonds and shall have the money in an hour; but I must be away from the city for a few days," said Mac-," after the transaction is completed. I mean to keep you clear. I will leave the bills for you wherever you tell me; but no money must be found in your possession."

"Put them in an envelope for me, and leave them at my brother's house," said Talman.

"I will," said Mac

"and deliver them myself. We may not meet for some time. I am going to England, as I have a big thing there, and they are waiting for me in London to bring the money to begin it. Good-bye. Be cool to-morrow, and do just what I have told you, and there'll be no trouble." And they separated.

Precisely at one o'clock Mr. L and his confidential clerk were employed in counting the bonds which had been withdrawn from the banks, and placing them in small piles upon the latter's desk.

"I make it six hundred thousand dollars," said the old broker. "Yes, sir," answered Talman, "the cheque will be for six hundred thousand dollars, and one thousand one hundred dollars our commission. I have made out the sale note, and will take it in to King & Co."

On entering the office, Talman found several persons there; amongst others he recognised Mr. Watson and the little man.

"Be cool," whispered Mac to Talman, as he and Mr. Watson accompanied him into the front office, leaving the little man and a stranger behind.

"Have you got the bonds we ordered ?" said Mac to Talman. "Yes, sir. Mr. L- has them all on the desk."

"Count them over, Watson," said Mac, "and see that they are correct, while I write the cheque. Six hundred thousand the bonds, and eleven hundred dollars commission and charges," repeated Macas he wrote two cheques upon the Central Bank, giving them to Talman to get certified, and the latter left for that purpose.

Mac retired from the office, saying he would return in a few minutes. Mr. Watson remained conversing with Mr. Lupon various subjects, and observing the bonds upon the desk, suggested that it would be more prudent to lock them in the safe until his clerk's return with the cheques. Mr. L thought so too, and locked them in the safe, and put the large key in his pocket.

"I have known," observed Mr. Watson, "in an office exposed to the street as this is, that bonds have been snatched up-and we are alone here."

"It is much safer," said the old broker, as he pushed the key to the bottom of his pocket. "But where is Talman? he's a long time gone to get those cheques certified," he added.

"Yes," observed Mr. Watson, "has he far to go? I'll just walk up Wall Street and look for him."

The office of King & Co. was locked, every one had left, and Mr. Watson walked his way up Wall Street, and having turned the corner, jumped into a car, and was in Jersey City in a few minutes to keep an appointment.

Three-quarters of an hour had elapsed. Talman returned breathless to the office.

"The bank refuses to certify the cheques-there are no funds! King & Co. are not known there! It is a fraud!" said Talman. "Where are the bonds? Have you delivered them?"

The old man was paralysed.

"What! A bogus cheque ?" he exclaimed. "We have lost our commission, but the bonds are secure. Here they are." He wiped the perspiration which stood upon his brow, took the key from his pocket, and opened the safe. "The bonds are gone!" he shrieked, and fell back in a swoon into his chair.

The bonds were gone! The back of his safe had been entirely extracted, all its contents ransacked, and thrust into the safe of King & Co., which had been fixed into the partition which separated the two offices. MacMac never returned, the office of King & Co. was deserted, and once again to let to next door neighbours.