It has not been my way of doing business to spare any one, or any company, the consequences of their own carelessness; nor to obtain information second-hand, when I could have it direct from the source. I shall write to the Insurance Office by the next post." Mr. Farquhar saw that any further remonstrance on his part would only aggravate his partner's obstinacy: and, besides, it was but a suspicion,--an uncomfortable suspicion. It was possible that some of the clerks at the Insurance Office might have made a mistake. Watson was not sure, after all, that the certificates had been deposited in box A, 24; and when he and Mr. Farquhar could not find them there, the old man drew more and yet more back from his first assertion of belief, that they had been placed there. Mr. Bradshaw wrote an angry and indignant reproach of carelessness to the Insurance Company. By the next mail one of their clerks came down to Eccleston;and, having leisurely refreshed himself at the inn, and ordered his dinner with care, he walked up to the great warehouse of Bradshaw & Co., and sent in his card, with a pencil notification, "On the part of the Star Insurance Company," to Mr. Bradshaw himself. Mr. Bradshaw held the card in his hand for a minute or two without raising his eyes. Then he spoke out loud and firm-- "Desire the gentleman to walk up. Stay! I will ring my bell in a minute or two, and then show him upstairs." When the errand-boy had closed the door, Mr. Bradshaw went to a cupboard where he usually kept a glass and a bottle of wine (of which he very seldom partook, for he was an abstemious man). He intended now to take a glass, but the bottle was empty; and, though there was plenty more to be had for ringing, or even simply going into another room, he would not allow himself to do this. He stood and lectured himself in thought. "After all, I am a fool for once in my life. If the certificates are in no box which I have yet examined, that does not imply they may not be in some one which I have not had time to search. Farquhar would stay so late last night! And, even if they are in none of the boxes here, that does not prove----" He gave the bell a jerking ring, and it was yet sounding when Mr. Smith, the insurance clerk, entered. The manager of the Insurance Company had been considerably nettled at the tone of Mr. Bradshaw's letter; and had instructed the clerk to assume some dignity at first in vindicating (as it was well in his power to do) the character of the proceedings of the Company, but at the same time he was not to go too far, for the firm of Bradshaw & Co. was daily looming larger in the commercial world, and if any reasonable explanation could be given it was to be received, and bygones be bygones. "Sit down, sir!" said Mr. Bradshaw. "You are aware, sir, I presume, that I come on the part of Mr. Dennison, the manager of the Star Insurance Company, to reply in person to a letter of yours, of the 29th, addressed to him?" Mr. Bradshaw bowed. "Avery careless piece of business," he said stiffly. "Mr. Dennison does not think you will consider it as such when you have seen the deed of transfer, which I am commissioned to show you." Mr. Bradshaw took the deed with a steady hand. He wiped his spectacles quietly, without delay, and without hurry, and adjusted them on his nose.
It is possible that he was rather long in looking over the document--at least, the clerk had just begun to wonder if he was reading through the whole of it, instead of merely looking at the signature, when Mr. Bradshaw said: "It is possible that it may be----of course, you will allow me to take this paper to Mr. Benson, to--to inquire if this be his signature?" "There can be no doubt of it, I think, sir," said the clerk, calmly smiling, for he knew Mr. Benson's signature well. "I don't know, sir--I don't know." (He was speaking as if the pronunciation of every word required a separate effort of will, like a man who has received a slight paralytic stroke.) "You have heard, sir, of such a thing as forgery--forgery, sir?" said he, repeating the last word very distinctly; for he feared that the first time he had said it, it was rather slurred over. "Oh, sir! there is no room for imagining such a thing, I assure you. In our affairs we become aware of curious forgetfulness on the part of those who are not of business habits." "Still I should like to show it Mr. Benson, to prove to him his forgetfulness, you know. I believe, on my soul, it is some of his careless forgetfulness--Ido, sir," said he. Now he spoke very quickly. "It must have been. Allow me to convince myself. You shall have it back to-night, or the first thing in the morning." The clerk did not quite like to relinquish the deed, nor yet did he like to refuse Mr. Bradshaw. If that very uncomfortable idea of forgery should have any foundation in truth--and he had given up the writing! There were a thousand chances to one against its being anything but a stupid blunder;the risk was more imminent of offending one of the directors. As he hesitated, Mr. Bradshaw spoke very calmly, and almost with a smile on his face. He had regained his self-command. "You are afraid, I see.