]
GEOFFREY Won't you sit down? [He puts a chair for her left of the
table.]
MRS. CHINN [Seating herself.] Thank you, sir.
GEOFFREY [He half sits on the arm of the easy-chair below the
fire.] What's the trouble?
MRS. CHINN It's my boy, sir--my youngest. He's been taking money
that didn't belong to him.
GEOFFREY Um. Has it been going on for long?
MRS. CHINN About six months, sir. I only heard of it to-night.
You see, his wife died a year ago. She was such a good manager.
And after she was gone he seems to have got into debt.
GEOFFREY What were his wages?
MRS. CHINN Nineteen shillings a week, sir. And that with the rent
and three young children--well, it wants thinking out.
GEOFFREY From whom did he take the money--his employers?
MRS. CHINN Yes, sir. He was the carman. They had always trusted
him to collect the accounts.
GEOFFREY How much, would you say, was the defalcation?
MRS. CHINN I beg pardon, sir.
GEOFFREY How much does it amount to, the sums that he has taken?
MRS.
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