This seemed to be so straight that Patsy could not deny it, though he believed the fellow was lying. He looked around to the clerks for confirmation, but they were all behind high desks and railings, and he could not get to them except by leaving his man.
A high official of the company approached, one Patsy knew well.
Patsy hailed him, and asked him if the man calling himself Vernon was in the employ of the company.
“Well, that’s a hard one for me,” said the official, good-naturedly. “I should be greatly puzzled to identify all of our employees.”
The man said, respectfully:
“I am in the inspectors’ department.”
The official, however, became suddenly serious, and asked:
“But what is it? Anything wrong with him, Patsy?”
The other now turned on the lad with a start, his eyes intently fixed on Patsy, and the lad, as much as he respected the high official, could have kicked him for letting out his name.
But the high official did worse. Saying to the one who called himself Vernon to stand where he was, he seized Patsy by the arm to lead him to a gentleman sitting at a desk within a railing.