“If some one used this telephone to talk to Mr. Kittridge with,” mused Tom, “it may involve me.” CHAPTER XVIII TOM IS ACCUSED “Send the clerks into my office,” said Mr. Boise to Mr. Keen, as he passed into his own apartment. “We’ll sift this matter to the bottom.” One by one the clerks passed into the room of the senior partner. Low but earnest voices could be heard from behind the closed door. Several telephone inquiries came for Mr. Boise, but Tom had been instructed to turn the clients over to Mr. Keen, as Mr. Cutler was out. One by one the clerks came from the room of Mr. Boise. They looked worried, but not guilty, and all, evidently, had succeeded in proving to the satisfaction of their employer that they, at least, were not guilty of betraying the firm’s secret. As the last clerk emerged, Mr. Cutler came into the office. He seemed quite excited over something, and, as Mr. Boise came from his room at that moment, the two members of the firm met. “I hear you lost the Kendall case,” began Mr. Cutler. “Yes, I----” “I suppose you know how it came about,” interrupted the junior partner, with a vindictive glance at Tom. “That is what I have been trying to find out.” “I think I can tell you.” “You? What do you mean?” “I mean that the secret of the injunction about the dam was betrayed by some one in this office.” “I fear as much, but I have been unable to discover who mentioned it, unless one of us three partners did so,” added Mr. Boise with a smile. Cutler started. Then he said: “I fancy if you were to ask the telephone boy about it he might be able to tell something.” “The telephone boy? Tom? Do you mean him?” “That’s who I mean!” exclaimed Mr. Cutler sharply. “I never said a word over the telephone, or in any other way about this Kendall suit, or any other!” exclaimed Tom indignantly. “I never talk about the firm’s business outside!” “No?” remarked Mr. Cutler sneeringly. “Then how did it happen that I heard you calling up Kittridge’s office the other day?” “Calling up Mr. Kittridge’s office?” repeated Tom. Then he remembered that Mr. Boise had had that lawyer on the wire, refusing a postponement of the case. He told the circumstances. “Yes, that is so,” acknowledged Mr. Boise. “But why do you accuse Tom, Mr. Cutler?” and he looked sharply at the junior partner. “Because of something I overheard between Kittridge and one of his clerks.” “What was that?” “I just came from the court house,” went on Mr. Cutler. “I heard you had lost your case, and I saw Kittridge and his clerk laughing over their success. Then I overheard Kittridge say: ‘We never would have won the case, but for a tip Boise’s office boy gave me. He called me up, and said he had a grudge against the firm because they wouldn’t raise his wages, and then he let out about the injunction.’ That’s what Kittridge said.”