“Why?”
“Why? What a question! Isn’t the man in my employ—or, at least, wasn’t he?”
“He was in the employ of Casson and Pritchard, and Dan Pritchard has attended to the matter for the firm.”
“I should have been communicated with immediately. Pritchard should have telephoned to me, not to you.”
“Oh dear, Uncle John! One would think you revered the man so highly you planned to have the bay dragged to recover his body, instead of being happy in the knowledge that you have gotten rid of the nuisance.”
“Humph-h-h-h! We’ll not discuss it further, my dear. However, it is difficult for me to refrain from expressing my irritation. How like young Pritchard it was to disregard me entirely in this matter! For all the deference or consideration that fellow pays me as the senior member of the firm, I might as well be a traffic policeman.”
Maisie’s fine eyes flamed in sudden anger. “Has it ever occurred to you, Uncle John, that in declining to annoy you with unnecessary details, by his persistence in relieving you of the labor and worry of the business management of Casson and Pritchard, Dan may be showing you the courtesy and consideration due you as the senior member of the firm?”
“I am not a back number—yet, Maisie,” he assured her.
“Why do you not buy him out, Uncle John? He seems to be a very great trial to you.”
Old Casson appeared to consider this suggestion very seriously as he gravely tapped the shell of his matutinal egg. “That isn’t a half bad idea, Maisie,” he answered. “At present, however, I am scarcely in position to buy his interest. I anticipate this condition will be materially changed within the next three or four months, and then——”