‘Well, sir, I should advise you to get your lawyer to read it. In my opinion, sir, you are not liable at all.’
‘Not liable!’ Frank felt as if his heart had turned suddenly from a round-shot to an air-balloon. ‘Why not liable?’
‘You were a little slapdashy, if one might say so, in matters of business, sir, and perhaps you read that bond less carefully than I did. There was a clause in it by which the Company agreed frequently and periodically to audit my accounts, so as to prevent your liability being at any time a very high one.’
‘So there was!’ cried Frank. ‘Well, didn’t they?’
‘No, sir, they didn’t.’
‘By Jove—Maude, do you hear that?—if that is right, they brought their own misfortunes upon themselves. Do you mean to say they never audited you?’
‘Yes, sir, they did so four times.’
‘In how long?’
‘In fourteen months.’
The air-balloon was gone and the cannon-ball back in its place once more.