ou at once with the
amount due for the previous quarter, and if you will give me your account
I will correct it now."

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. He was stunned.

"It is so painful," continued Mr. Furze, "that I must have time to
reflect. I will talk to you again about it to-morrow."

The truth was that Mr. Furze wished to consult his wife. When he went
home his first news was what had happened, but he forgot to mention the
corroboration by Jim.

"But," said Mrs. Furze, "Joe may have been mistaken; perhaps, after all,
he did not pay the money."

"Ah! but Jim was in the shop at the time. I had Jim in, and he swears
that he saw Joe give it to Tom, and that Tom put it in the till."

Mrs. Furze seemed a little uncomfortable, but she soon recovered.

"We ought to have proof beyond all doubt of Tom's dishonesty. I do not
see that this is proof. A