“Very,” said Everett. “Here’s some of us have been with Mr. Compton since Bince was in long clothes, and then he comes in here and says that we are not to be trusted with the pay-roll.”
“Well,” said Jimmy, “I shall have to go to him to see it then.”
“He won’t show it to you,” said Everett.
“Oh, I guess he will,” said Jimmy, and a moment later he knocked at Bince’s office door. When Bince saw who it was he turned back to his work with a grunt.
“I am sorry, Torrance,” he said, “but I can’t talk with you just now. I’m very busy.”
“Working on the pay-roll?” said Jimmy. “Yes,” snarled Bince.
“That’s what I came in to see,” said the efficiency expert.
“Impossible,” said Bince. “The International Machine Company’s pay-roll is confidential, absolutely confidential. Nobody sees it but me or Mr. Compton if he wishes to.”
“I understood from Mr. Compton,” said Jimmy, “that I was to have full access to all records.”
“That merely applied to operation records,” said Bince. “It had nothing to do with the pay-roll.”