"
Mr. Furze took it, and ruled through the first line, altering the
total.
"This is very unpleasant, Mr. Catchpole," observed Mr. Furze, after
the builder had departed. "Was there anybody in the shop besides
yourself and Joe?"
"Jim was there."
Mr. Furze rang a bell, and Jim presently appeared. "Jim, were you
in the shop when your brother came to pay Mr. Humphries' bill about
a week ago?"
"I wor."
"Did he pay it? did you see him hand over the money?"
"I did, and Mr. Catchpole took it and put it in the till. I see'd
it go in with my own eyes."
"Well, what happened then?"
"He locked the till all in a hurry, put the key in his waistcoat
pocket; let me see, it wor in his left-hand pocket--no, wot am I a-
sayin'?--it wor in his right-hand pocket--I want to be particklar,
Mr. Furze--and then he run out of the shop. Joe, he took up his
receipt, and he says, says he, 'He might a given me the odd penny,'
and says I, 'He ain't Mr. Furze, he can't give away none of the
guvnor's money. If it wor the guvnor himself he'd a done it,' and
with that we went out of the shop together."
"That will do, Jim; you can go."
"Mr. Catchpole, this assumes a very--I may say--painful aspect."
"I can only repeat, sir, that I have not had the money. It is
inexplicable. I may have been robbed."
"But there is no entry in the day-book."
It did not occur to Tom at the moment to plead that if he was
dishonest he would have contrived not to be so in such a singularly
silly fashion: that he might have taken cash paid for goods bought,
and that the possibility of discovery would have been much smaller.
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