They were on their way to see someone in that dismal category now. Pellotte found disloyalty almost impossible to understand. If you belonged to a company, drew your income through a company, you surely owed it your full, honest allegiance. Of course, Pellotte knew that many would say the amount of money involved here with Gordon Basil Hodge – less than £21K – they’d say this bagatelle probably did not justify an a.m. door knock by him, Adrian Pellotte: that is, Adrian Pellotte personally. It meant risk and it was footling. But Pellotte believed he should let it be known once in a while around Whitsun that he – yes, he personally, Adrian Pellotte himself – he, Adrian Pellotte, still checked the accounts for fiddling, and could become so hurt by these attempts at deception that he felt it correct to show his, yes, again, his personal pain and disappointment on the spot, such as Hodgy’s nest in Larch Street. Pellotte’s pain and disappointment might be acute, but they did not disable him.
