.

* * * * *

Our senior partner, Mr. Bagshaw, came much earlier than usual,--10.30,
to be precise,--and sent for me at once. He is a big, fat man; he
speaks in short sentences, and breathes hard in between them. At the
moment of entering his room I was as certain that I was about to be
sacked as I have ever been of anything that I did not really know. I
was wrong.

He made me sit down, glared at me, and began:

"Yesterday evening we detained Mr. Figgis for a few minutes. At the end
of our interview with him he left this office for ever, never to
return--never!"

I said that I was very much astonished.

"We weren't. We've known there was a leakage. People knew what we were
doing--people who oughtn't to know. He sold information. We put on
detectives. They proved it. See?"

I said that I saw.

"So you've got Figgis's place for the future. See?"

At that moment you might have knocked me down with a feather; it was so
absolutely unexpected. Give me time, and I think I can provide a few
well-chosen words suitable to the occasion as well as any man. But now
I could think of nothing to say but "Thank you."

He went on to explain that this would mean an immediate rise of L75,
and a prospective rise of a further L75 at the end of a year if my work
was satisfactory. He said that I had not Figgis's abilities, of course,
but that a very close eye had been kept on me lately, and I had shown
myself to be honest, methodical, and careful in details. It was also
believed that I should realize the importance of a responsible and
confidential position, and that I should keep the men under me up to
the mark.

The rest of our conversation was concerned with my new duties, and at
the close of it he handed me Figgis's keys--my own name and the office
address had been already put on the label.

I should not be fair to myself if I did not make some reference to Mr.
Bagshaw's comparison of Figgis's abilities and my own. I will merely
state the fact that on more than one occasion Figgis has gained success
or avoided failure from suggestions made to him by myself. That he did
not give me the credit for this with the firm is precisely what I
should have expected from a man of that character. However, I have my
opportunity now, and the firm will see.

* * * * *

When I returned to the clerks' office I found one of the juniors
playing the fool.

"I