“Good-evening, Chester,” returned the bookkeeper, flushing slightly. “I want to thank you for not exposing my past misdeeds.”
“I hope, Mr. Mullins, you did not think me mean enough to do so.”
“I am sorry to say that according to my sad experience eight out of ten would have done so, especially if they had reason, like you, to complain of personal ill treatment.”
“I don’t believe in persecuting a man.”
“I wish all were of your way of thinking. Shall I tell you my experience?”
“If you will.”
“When I left New York I went to Chicago and obtained the position of collector for a mercantile establishment. I was paid a commission, and got on very well till one unlucky day I fell in with an acquaintance from New York.
“‘Where are you working?’ he asked.
“I told him.
“The next day my employer summoned me to his presence.