"Sh!"
"John Stumpy isn't the one to lose over two hundred dollars!"
"Just what I always said myself, partner, and&—"
"Don't 'partner ' me, sir!"
"Well, wasn't we all partners in the good times gone by?"
"No, sir!"
"I reckon we were. Howsomever, let it pass. Well, as I was saying, I reckoned I'd never lose any money, leasewise a small pile, but that's what I have done, and that's why I want you to come down."
And John Stumpy leaned back in the rocker in a defiant fashion.
The merchant eyed him sharply in silence for a moment.
"Where did you lose the money?" he asked at length.