"Ah," said the agent, insinuatingly, "evidently you have some occupation, after all—of—of a productive sort...."

He looked up again with that same air of vexed surprise, as much as to say: "What! You still hanging around!"

"I don't follow you, I fear."

"I assume that this money comes to you in payment for some—work you have done—"

"It is an assumption, certainly."

"You can appreciate, perhaps, that I am not idly inquisitive. I shouldn't—"

"What is it that you wish to know?"

"As to this money—"

"Really, you know as much about it as I do. It came exactly as I handed it to you: the envelope, the blank paper, and the bill."

"But you know, of course, where it comes from?"