"That you should both be taken into partnership on the spot, I suppose?" interrupted Langholm.
"Well, yes, it came to something like that."
"Go on, Abel. I won't interrupt again. What happened then?"
"Well, he'd got to go, had Mr. Minchin! The boss told him he could tell who he liked, but go he'd have to; and go he did, with his tail between his legs, and not another word to anybody. I believe it was the boss who started him in Western Australia."
"Not such a bad boss," remarked Langholm, dryly; and the words set him thinking a moment on his own account. "And what happened to you?" he added, abandoning reflection by an effort.
"I stayed on."
"Forgiven?"
"If you like to put it that way."
"And you both filed the secret for future use!"
"Don't talk through your neck, mister," said Abel, huffily. "What are you drivin' at?"