"On file, sir."
"Send them to me at once. Stop. I will go to the counting-room myself," he continued, beginning to be excited, as he rose from his easy-chair.
"They have never been entered in the lumber book, sir."
"What's the lumber book?"
I explained what it was.
"Send Mr. Faxon to me. Send the invoices by him," continued the senior. "Perhaps I can look into the matter better here than at the counting-room."
I wondered that he even knew who Mr. Faxon was. A man who had so little knowledge of his own business as Mr. Collingsby almost deserved to be cheated out of his property.
"What shall I say to Mr. Whippleton, sir?" I asked.
"Tell him we will not increase our stock at any rate," he replied, decidedly. "Do you think Mr. Whippleton has been using the firm's money for his own purposes, Mr. Philips?"
"That is not for me to say, sir. Mr. Whippleton has always been very kind to me, and I dislike to say anything about this business."