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Rh in the street reading it over he suddenly exclaimed:

"They've made a mistake. It's only for one hundred shares instead of two hundred. I must go right down to the office and have it straightened out. It's probably a clerical error."

Though he said this to himself, it was with a vague feeling of uneasiness that Ned boarded a car to go to the offices of Skem & Skim. It must be an error, he repeated to himself, over and over again. Still he remembered what his father had said about "fake" companies. But this one had seemed substantial, and their offices certainly indicated that they did a big business. Ned was deposited by the elevator in the corridor opposite the glittering offices of Skem & Skim. He observed a number of persons standing before the entrance door.

"I tell you I will go in!" Ned heard one excited man exclaim. "They've got a thousand dollars of my money and I want it back."

"Yes, and they've got five hundred of mine," another man chimed in.

"I am sorry, gentlemen," replied a third voice. "But the offices are closed. No one can go in until after an investigation."

"By whose orders are they closed?" asked the man who had mentioned the thousand dollars.