Britt pushed away the notes and seized the opportunity to turn his own
papers upside down on the desk. "We can't accommodate you at present,
Stickney."

The customer stepped back and propped his palms on his hips. "I reckon
I've got to call for an explanation."

"We're not in the habit of explaining the details of our business to
individuals."

Stickney slipped the leash on his indignation. "'We,' say you? All
right! 'We' it is. I'm in on that 'we.' I'm a stockholder in the bank.
What sort of investments are 'we' making that have caused money to be
so tight here that a regular customer is turned down--and after enough
loans have been called to make the vault bulge?"

"The report will show," returned Britt, coldly. "I am not called on
to issue that report in installments every time a stockholder turns in
here."

The especial stockholder stepped forward and tapped his finger on the
desk. "I don't say that you are. But now that this subject is opened
up--"

"The subject is closed, Stickney."

"Now that the subject is opened up," insisted the other man, "I'll make
mention of what you probably know--that I have regular business 'most
every day down in Levant at the railroad terminus. And I'm knowing to it