Sponley made very light of what little information he had, professed to discredit it utterly, and said finally that he should have paid no attention to it, or should have referred it straight to headquarters, except that his present operations in lard put him in an attitude of apparent hostility to the bank, and that he didn’t care to go there on such an errand. He could see that he was impressing Hauxton; by the time he finished, the tip of the reporter’s long pointed nose seemed fairly to twitch and to twinkle with excited curiosity. “You’d better be very careful whom you ask about it,” said the Bear. “It’s easy enough to start people talking just that way. I’d go right to one of the officers of the bank first, if I were you.” Hauxton laughed. “I don’t exactly relish the idea of asking Bagsbury if it’s true that his bank is likely to have to suspend. They say, you know, that he’s never lost his temper but twice, and that he didn’t quite kill his man either time. Once was when Drake went to him to get a loan for that skate Suburban Rapid Transit. He offered Bagsbury a commission, and at that Bagsbury got up, took him by the arm, marched him to the head of the stairs, and said he didn’t know whether to kick him down or not. Drake thought he meant to, though, and jumped halfway and rolled the rest. He was black and blue for two weeks. And the other time was when Smith tried to blackmail him. Bagsbury bent him backward over a table and nearly brained him. He got off alive, too; but I might not be so lucky.” Sponley knew that Hauxton was speaking in jest, but he answered seriously:-- “Oh, Bagsbury can’t afford to lose his temper these days, and he’d treat you all right, anyway; but I think you’d get more out of one of the other officers. I think Curtin’s your man. He may refuse to talk, or he may lie to you, but he’s no good at concealing the facts.” As soon as Hauxton took his leave, Sponley called up Curtin on the telephone. Just as Curtin answered the call, Harriet, who had heard Hauxton go out, entered the room, and Sponley was forced to give his instructions to the assistant cashier in her hearing. “I just sent Hauxton of the _Herald_ over to see you. He’ll ask you if it’s true that the bank’s in trouble. You’ll deny it, of course. Deny it vigorously as you can. Do you understand?” Then after a word of greeting to Harriet, he telephoned to Mr. Meredith. “I was afraid you might be alarmed over the rumors that have been going about this afternoon concerning Bagsbury’s bank. I don’t think there’s anything to be afraid of. They may have some temporary difficulty, but they’re sure to come out all right. If any one speaks to you about it, you’ll be quite safe in denying that there’s any serious difficulty, and you’ll be doing Bagsbury a good turn. When people get to talking, it sometimes plays the very devil with a bank--Not at all. Good-by.” You can see that Dawson was right about the extra ace. CHAPTER XVI HARRIET