“Of course it’s you. You’re the treasurer.”
“But it’s you has Mr. Billing’s cheque,” said Doyle.
“I haven’t got Mr. Billing’s cheque,” said Dr. O’Grady.
“If you haven’t,” said Doyle, helplessly, “who has?”
“It’s my belief,” said Gallagher, in a tone of extreme satisfaction, “that there’s no cheque in it.”
“Do you mean to say, Doyle,” said Dr. O’Grady, “that you’ve been such a besotted idiot as to let that American escape out of this without paying over his subscription for the statue?”
“You’ll never see him again,” said Gallagher. “He’s not the first man that skipped the country after letting everybody in.”
“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” said Father McCormack, “order, please, order.”
“We’ll have to drop the whole thing now,” said the Major, “and I must say I’m extremely glad.”
“I’m no more an idiot than you are yourself, doctor,” said Doyle, “and I won’t have language of the kind used to me. How was I to know he hadn’t given you the cheque?”