"Are you a clerk for Bann & Shadow, the wholesale grocers?"
"I am."
"I would like to see you privately, Mr. Gaffney."
"Who are you?"
"I am Andrew Shalley, the owner of the steamboat Helen Shalley."
"Oh!"
George Gaffney was taken aback and showed it plainly. His wife had come to a back doorway and was looking at the visitors curiously.
"Step in, sir," said the clerk, in a husky voice. "Mary, I will see this gentleman alone," he went on to his wife, who at once retired, closing the door after her.
Andrew Shalley was a good judge of character and he saw that George Gaffney was a family man of fairly good qualities. He was extremely nervous.
"I think I can get him to confess easily enough—if he has anything to tell," thought the steamboat owner.