Trusted Like The Fox Read Online Free Page B

me see what this gentleman wants. You really shouldn’t say such things before witnesses. I took no money from you.” He moved along the counter until he was opposite Ellis.
    “What is it?” he asked, his uneasy eyes searching Ellis’s face.
    “I want work.” Ellis spelt the letters out in deaf and dumb signs with his fingers.
    A look of relief came to Whitcombe’s face. He had thought that Ellis might have overheard what the girl had said. His own fingers sprang into activity. Fluently and swiftly they spelt out words, too fast for Ellis to follow.
    “Slower,” Ellis’s fingers replied, “I am a beginner.”
    Mr Whitcombe lifted his shoulders irritably, opened a drawer under the counter, took out a form. He laid it before Ellis, then moved back to the girl.
    While Ellis was reading the form, he heard the girl say, “If you can’t give me a job, I want my money back.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mr Whitcombe returned. “Why do you keep on about money? I wouldn’t take money from you.”
    “But you did,” the girl protested, “and I want it back. I’ll tell your people. You offered to find me a job without references . . .”
    “Stop it,” Mr Whitcombe said, rapping the counter with his bony knuckles. “Who’d believe such a story? You’re a thief, aren’t you? Just out of jail. Who’d believe you? Be off or I’ll send for the police.”
    “I want my money back,” the girl repeated, a catch in her voice. “I haven’t a penny. Nothing. Don’t you understand? I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
    “I can’t help that,” Mr Whitcombe said. “It’s no good going on and on. Something may come in. But if you want me to help you, you mustn’t say you lent me money. You mustn’t tell lies, you know. It never gets anyone anywhere.”
    “I did lend you money,” the girl said, suddenly angry. “You said it was a loan, but it wasn’t. It was a bribe.”
    Mr Whitcombe suddenly chuckled. He felt quite safe now he had convinced himself that Ellis couldn’t overhear what was being said. “They wouldn’t believe you, you little fool. No one would believe you. It’s your word against mine. Be off with you! Do you think anyone wants to employ a deaf jailbird? Ask yourself. Think about it. Would you? Go away! and if you come here again making out I took money from you, I’ll call a policeman.”
    Ellis saw the girl’s hands clench into tight little fists. They beat softly on the counter, then disappeared.
    He drew back as she turned to the door but he was too late to see her face. He watched her walk to the door, open it. Her narrow shoulders wilted, her shabby little hat was like a halo of despair.
    The door closed.
    Mr Whitcombe grinned to himself, then moved along the counter once more to Ellis.
    “Have you filled in the form?” he asked with his fingers.
    “The filthy rat,” Ellis was thinking. “That’s what they did to me before I learned to take care of myself.” He had read the form and saw at once that he wouldn’t get work here. The form stated that three personal references were required before an applicant was considered. He thought of the girl. If he told this old twister he couldn’t supply references he would ask for money, and then do nothing for him. He was disappointed, furious, and he leaned over the counter, glaring at Mr Whitcombe savagely.
    “I heard, you swine,” he said. “I heard everything.”
    He hit Mr Whitcombe across his loose skinny face. The old man gave a choking cry, staggered, fell down behind the counter. Ellis didn’t bother to see what had happened to him. He stepped to the door, opened it, glanced up and down the passage, then ran quickly down the stairs.
    He knew he shouldn’t have hit the old man, but the temptation had been too strong for him. He thought of the girl. It was a pity she couldn’t have seen what had happened. It would have done her good. She had paid forty shillings and had got nothing for it except