Ezra Girdlestone was deep in some accounts, and his brother clerks were all absorbed in their work.

He stole up to the woman, with an apologetic smile, slipped something into her hand, and then hurried back into the office with an austere look upon his face, as if his whole mind were absorbed in the affairs of the firm.

There are speculations above the ken of business men.

Perhaps, Thomas Gilray, that ill-spared half-crown of yours may bring in better interest than the five-and-twenty pounds of your employer..