“Strewth!” he said, “I laughed fit to burst this morning. The ’phone at his girl’s place is in the hall, as far as I could make out, and Joe was whispering down it like an old woman with lumbago. ‘Take ’em round to Johnson,’ he said. ‘Approval—approval—you fool.’ And then he turned away and I heard him say—‘Good morning, Lady Jemima.’ Then back he turns and starts whispering again. ‘Do you get me, Bob?’ ‘Yes,’ I says, ‘I get you. You want me to take round the pearls to Johnson and get a receipt from him. And what about the other thing—you know, the money the young boob borrowed?’ ‘Put it in an envelope and send it to me here, with the receipt,’ he says. ‘I’m going out walking this morning.’ Then he rings off, and that’s that. Lord! think of Joe walking.”
The grin developed into a cackling laugh, in which Mr. Johnson joined.
“He’s deep—you’re right,” he said, admiringly. “Uncommonly deep. I never thought he’d pull it off. Though personally, mark you, I think he’s a fool. They’ll fight like cat and dog.” He rang a bell on his desk then opening a drawer he dropped the necklace inside.
“Bring me a formal receipt form,” he said to the assistant. “Have you got the other paper?” he asked, as he affixed the firm’s signature to the receipt, and the flashy individual produced it from his pocket.
“Here it is,” he announced. “Put ’em both in an envelope together and address it to Joe. I’m going along; I’ll post it.”
“Will you have a small tiddley before you go?” Mr. Johnson opened a formidable-looking safe, disclosing all the necessary-looking ingredients for the manufacture of small tiddleys.
“I don’t mind if I do,” conceded the other. “Here’s the best—and to the future Mrs. Joe.”
A moment or two later he passed through the outer office and was swallowed up in the crowd. And it was not till after lunch that day that Mr. Johnson got the shock of his life—when he opened one of the early evening papers.
“DARING ROBBERY IN WELL-KNOWN CITY FIRM.
“A most daring outrage was carried out last night at the office of Messrs. Smith and Co., the well-known financial and insurance brokers. At a late hour this morning, some time after work was commenced, the night watchman was discovered bound and securely gagged in a room at the top of the premises. Further investigation revealed that the safe had been opened—evidently by a master hand—and the contents rifled. The extent of the loss is at present unknown, but the police are believed to possess several clues.”