Page:Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son.djvu/233

Rh saw a fifty cheer a man up like that one did Charlie, and he thanked me just right—didn't stutter and didn't slop over. I earmarked Charlie for a raise and a better job right there.

Just after that I got mixed up with some work in my private office and I didn't look around again till on toward closing time. Then, right outside my door I met the office manager, and he looked mighty glum, too.

"I was just going to knock on your door," said he.

"Well?" I asked.

"Charlie Chasenberry is eight hundred dollars short in his collections."

"Um—m," I said, without blinking, but I had a gone feeling just the same.

"I had a plain-clothes man here to arrest him this evening, but he didn't come in."

"Looks as if he'd skipped, eh?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so, but I don't know how. He didn't have a dollar this morning, because he tried to overdraw his salary