THE MAN WHO KNEW
"Thank you, sir," said the man.
"What was it you did n't like?" asked Mr. Holland again, passing a match.
"Well, sir, I 've been in all sorts of queer places," said Feltham doggedly, as he puffed away at the cigarette, "but I 've always managed to keep clear of anything—funny. Do you see what I mean?"
"By funny I presume you don't mean comic," said Mr. Rex Holland cheerfully. "You mean dishonest, I suppose?"
"That 's right, sir, and there 's no doubt that I have been in a swindle, and it 's worrying me—that bank-forgery case. Why, I read my own description in the paper!"
Beads of perspiration stood upon the little man's forehead, and there was a pathetic droop to his mouth.
"That is a distinction which falls to few of us," said his employer suavely. "You ought to feel highly honored. And what are you going to do about it, Feltham?"
The man looked to left and right as though
172
