Mary couldn't follow that line of reasoning at all.
"Why do you feel like ignoring it, if it's such a natural question?" she asked.
"Because it's a question that might have occurred to anybody."
That puzzled Mary, too.
"Perhaps Burdon has money beside his salary," she suggested.
"He hasn't. I know he hasn't. He's in debt right now."
They thought it over in silence.
"I think if I were you, I'd tear it up," he said at last.
She promptly tore it into shreds.
"Now we'll forget that," he said. "I must confess, however, that it has raised another question to my mind. How long is it since your bookkeeping system was overhauled here?"