"I'll tell you what I think, Vermin!" Mr. Wentz winced. This perversion of his name had darkened his childhood days and he never had outgrown his antipathy to it. "I think," Toomey went on, "that you're shaky as the devil--that Neifkins' big loss put such a crimp in you that an honest bank examiner could close your doors! I'll bet my hat against a white chip that even a boys'-size 'run' could shut your little two by twice bank up tight as a drum!"
It was a random shot, but the president's face showed that it went home. He gathered himself immediately, but not before Kate who, on coming in brushed shoulders with the departing Toomey, had heard the speech and noted its effect.
So Neifkins had had a big loss! She grasped the full significance of it at once and exultation filled her heart.
Wentz looked at the "Sheep Queen" hard as she advanced. Astonishment and admiration were in his eyes when he recognized her at last. It was beyond belief that a mere matter of clothes could effect such a transformation as this. She looked the last word in feminine elegance. Filled with the wonder of it, he forgot for a moment the specter which had been his sleeping and waking companion for some weeks past and which had confronted him with the substance of reality at Toomey's taunt.
The banker went to meet Kate with an outstretched hand.
"You've been gone a long time; I've been wondering when we'd see you back."
"I've been east," she replied, casually.
"The trip's did wonders for you. You look--well, bloomin' isn't hardly strong enough. Miss Prentice, I want you to meet my wife--you must."
"Thanks--so much." A certain dryness momentarily disconcerted Mr. Wentz.
With a shade of chagrin Mr. Wentz returned to his desk, telling himself inelegantly that she was "feeling her oats."
Kate filled out a check in a deliberate and careful way and passed it in to the cashier, who had been noting the details of her appearance with unqualified interest. Her eyes had an increased brilliancy and there was a faint flush on her cheeks, but otherwise there was nothing in her impassive face to show how fast her heart was beating as she waited in the silence to learn if the blow she meant to strike had been well-timed or not.
She was not kept long in suspense. The swift consternation which made the cashier's color fade when he grasped the fact that the check was for the full amount of her deposit told her all she wished to know. The shadow of her enigmatic smile rested on her lips.