Now, if you can give me some advice----." "Certainly," said Sadie, who thought the woman looked anxious.

"Suppose you read out the names and what they owe ?" The man opened a ledger, and she told him what she knew about his customers; whom he could trust and whom he had better refuse further credit.

Then she looked thoughtful when he said: "Wilkinson, of the range--" "He didn't deal with us." "But you know everybody round here and can tell me if he's likely to make good," the man urged.
"How much does he owe you ?" Sadie asked.
The man named a rather large sum and she pretended to consider.
"Well," she replied, "the boys have probably told you that Wilkinson's not a friend of mine, and since that's so I'm not going to say much about his character." "It's not his character we're curious about.

Do you know how he's fixed ?" Sadie was silent for a few moments.

The others were young and newly married and had admitted that the purchase of the business had strained their resources.