had made the blunders, which they know he would not do, for he has a
reputation for accuracy."

"Quite so," said the editor; "and it is just that reputation--for
accuracy--that I want to gain for the _Daily Bugle_. Don't you think the
truth of it is that the man wants more money?"

"Who? Hazel?"

"Certainly. Does he imagine that he could get more than fifty pounds
elsewhere?"

"Oh, no; I'm sure the money doesn't come into the matter at all. Of
course he wants the fifty pounds, but he doesn't want to lose his
situation on the Board of Public Construction in the getting of it."

"Where do you meet this man, at his own house, or in his office at the
Board?"

"Oh, in his own house, of course."

"You haven't seen the books, then?"

"No; but he has the accounts all made out, tabulated beautifully, and
has written a very clear statement of the whole transaction. You
understand, of course, that there has been no defalcation, no
embezzlement, or anything of that sort. The accounts as a whole
balance perfectly, and there isn't a penny of the public funds wrongly
appropriated. All the Board has done is to juggle with figures so that
each department seems to have come out all right, whereas the truth is