The impulse was a kindly one, for the high official wanted to serve Patsy, but it was a mistaken one, since the other, seizing his opportunity, dashed through the door, near which he was standing, into a big office beyond.
Patsy broke from the grasp of the high official and jumped after him. There was a second’s delay as the door swung back on him, but when he had passed through he saw the other running down the long room.
The sight of a man flying frantically through the room, with another plunging along as frantically, followed closely by a high official of the company, excited all the clerks, and they thronged into the narrow way, so impeding Patsy’s pursuit that, by the time he had reached the door at the end of the room through which the other disappeared, his man was nowhere to be seen.
He ran hither and thither toward all the outlets, but quickly recognized the futility of further effort.
He went back to the high official, who had followed him out of the room. Patsy was considerably nettled, but, choking down his anger, said:
“He’s a crook, all right, or he wouldn’t have wanted to get away from me. But now I want to ask you whether there is a George Vernon in the employ of the company.”
“What department does he say he is employed in?” asked the official.
“In the inspector’s department.”
“Come with me,” said the official.
Patsy was led to a room where a man, busily engaged, was seated at a desk. He arose immediately on the approach of the high official, answering promptly the question whether there was a George Vernon in his employ.