谁笑最后(who Laugh Last)(2)

　　"there's no one here, "said kendal. "you can put that gun away. you're a bigger man than i am. there's a chair by the fire. sit down. "the man sat down in the chair by the fire and put his gun away. his eyes never left kendal's face, but he laughed.

　　"so you're going to pay, "he said. "you're right. kendal. it's better. what will people think if i tell them about your father?will they want you to stay at the bank?i don't think so, and you don't think so. "he laughed again.

　　kendal walked over to his table. the man's hard eyes under the cloth looked at him. kendal took out some banknotes. he did not speak. he put the money into the man's hands. the notes were old and dirty.

　　"good!"said a. b. c. . "the notes are old. "he turned them over in his hands，one by one. "yes，"he said. he stood up. "there are five hundred，as i told you. we 've had no trouble，and i'm glad，kendal. "he walked to the door of the room and opened it quickly. no one was outside.

　　ten days later kendal was sitting in his own room at the bank when a policeman came in. the policeman gave him a one-pound note. "will you look at that，sir? "he asked. kendal put the note on his table and looked at it. then he put it up to the light of the window and looked through it. "this note's bad，"he said. "we though t so，"said the policeman.

　　"yes，it's bad. where did you get it? are there some more bad notes in the town? "

　　"yes，i'll tell you about them. "said the policeman. "some shopkeepers brought us some notes like this. they were all bad. have you seen any bad notes at the bank? "

　　"no，i don't know of any. "

　　"that's a good thing. someone in the town was buying things at the shops with bad money. we started to look for the man. it happened just lately. we never had any before. "

　　"where did he get them? do you know? "

　　"no. we asked him，but he didn't tell us. "

　　kendal sat back in his chair. "what will happen to him now? "he said.

　　"oh，we shall. . . er. . . take him away. "

　　kendal went to the door with him. "what is the man's name? "he asked.

　　"alan brian carroll. "

　　"oh，yes，i see. alan brain carroll. a. b. c. ，"kendal laughed. "i did very well when i kept some of my father's bad old notes and gave them to a. b. c. . "