"
"What is the trouble, lad?" asked Mrs. Minturn.
"Why you see Miss Leslie's 'darling old Daddy' is one of the city
officials, and of course Mr. Bruce left him 'til last, because he would a-
staked his life he'd find the man he was hunting before he got to his
office, and he _didn't!_"
"What, James?" said the lady, turning hurriedly.
"Tell her about it, Mickey," said Mr. Minturn calmly.
"Well there ain't much to tell," said Mickey. "My boss he just kept
stacking up figures; two or three times he thought he had his man and then
he'd strike a balance; and the men whose records he searched kept getting
madder, and Mr. Winton went west to sell some land. Someway he's been gone
a week longer than he expected; and my boss is all through except him, and
now the other men say if he doesn't begin on Mr. Winton's books right
away, _they_ will, and he told my boss _not to 'til he got back_. A while
ago I was in the _Herald_ office talking to Mr. Chaffner, whose papers
I've sold since I started and I was telling him what nice friends I had,
and how Mr.
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