anything went wrong in the office Mr. Constable shook off all
responsibility for it. "That is a detail of which I know nothing," was
his ever present phrase in time of trouble, and this, accompanied by a
wave of his hands, cleared the atmosphere in his vicinity. A detail in
Mr. Constable's meaning was anything uncomfortable to remember. "That is
a detail with which I do not charge my memory," he would say, and he was
never contradicted.

There was no firm in the city more prominent than Constable, Glenning
and Hertzog, and none more highly esteemed. Possibly Mr. Constable
emphasised this a little too often, but perhaps his insistence impressed
some of the very people who pretended to laugh at it. "A firm of our
standing," was another of his pet phrases, and on this he rang the
changes with such genuine pride that those who did not envy readily
forgave him the touch of conceit.

Still there were those who would not have grieved had the firm lost its
standing in the Hydroid Fibre case. But the mud there only reached
Horton, the office Notary Public, and he went to Sing Sing for his
cleansing.

It was at the annual meeting of the great Hydroid Fibre Co., during a
bitter fight for control, that one of the stockholders repudiated a
proxy bearing his name and carrying votes in favour of Mr. Constable.
The signature was an evident forgery, and ugly things were said. Horton,
the Notary Public who had witnessed the paper and taken the signer's
"acknowledgment," was sent for, but could give no adequate explanation.

Mr. Constable, though dumfounded at the disclosure, acted with
commendable promptness. He instantly ordered the arrest of Horton and
silenced accusation by placing himself in the hands of his counsel,
Mr. Hertzog, and demanding an investigation. This inquiry clearly
demonstrated that Mr. Constable controlled more votes than were
necessary without the disputed shares. Horton swore that the bogus
stockholder had been properly identified, and claimed that he had been
artfully imposed upon, but of this there was absolutely no proof. Not
a trace of the swindler could be found.

But the firm did not rest satisfied with this vindication. A clerk in
the office had proved untrustworthy, and of him it was determined to
make an example.

The District Attorney's office was not a little proud of the short work
it made of Horton's case, and Messrs. Constable, Glenning & Hertzog,
each in his own way, complimented the officia