"What do you make of that?" he asked.
Evan read: "Received of George Deaves the sum of five thousand dollars in full payment of the story entitled: 'Simeon Deaves Goes Shopping,' including all rights. All existing copies of the manuscript enclosed. Many thanks. The Ikunahkatsi."
"Same old impudence!" said Evan smiling grimly. "This crook is something of a character it seems. Affects a kind of honesty in his dealings."
"Oh, he's kept a copy of the story," said George Deaves.
"Possibly. But why should he go to the trouble of making believe that he has not?—and send a receipt? Criminal psychology is queer. This is something out of the common that we are up against!"
CHAPTER IX
THE COMPACT IS SMASHED
Evan spent the afternoon walking about with Simeon Deaves. The old man was an indefatigable pedestrian. He had no object in his wanderings, but loved to poke into the oddest and most out-of-the-way corners of the town. They were not followed to-day so far as Evan could tell. At first Simeon Deaves was uneasy and suspicious of his body-guard, but finding that Evan took everything calmly for granted, he unbent and became loquacious. All his talk was on the same subject: how to get along in the world, i.e. how to make money.
Evan having taken him home at last, sank into the seat of a bus with relief. "Anyhow it will be good for my health," he thought.