Those who Laugh Last,Laugh Best!.docx

《Those who Laugh Last,Laugh Best!.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Those who Laugh Last,Laugh Best!.docx（7页珍藏版）》请在得力文库 - 分享文档赚钱的网站上搜索。

1、Those who Laugh Last,Laugh Best!Henry Kendal walked into his house, took off his big coat, and sat down. Then he read the letter again:I want five hundred pounds, and Ill come to your house to get it. You may have four days to get the money ready. Five hundred pounds is not very much for a rich man

2、like you. Why must I pay？you will ask. Ill tell you the answer. I knew your father. He made banknotes, didnt he？Do you want everyone to know this？I dont think so. Ill tell everyone if you dont pay. So have the money ready when I come. Onepound notes, please, and old notes. Dont tell anyone. Be alone

3、 when I come. I dont like the police.A. B. CKendals face was troubled. He was rich now, but in the old days he was poor. When he was a boy at Camber, his father got into trouble with the police. His father had a small room at the back of the house. He made bad money in this room. He made banknotes,

4、hundreds of them. But the police came to the house one day, and they found some of the notes. They did not find all of them, because his father hid a lot, but they found some and they caught his father. That was the end of the boys home life. The police took his father away, and young Henry left hom

5、e. Everyone in Camber knew his father, and the boy did not like to stay in the town. He left his mother and ran away. He came to Norton.At first the boy got some work in a shop. But after some years he found work at the bank. Everyone liked him. He worked hard. He had a happy face. He helped everyon

6、e when he could. He got better and better work at the bank, and now he had the highest place there. A lot of people knew him well and liked him.His father was dead now, but someone knew about him。What could Kendal do？If anyone tells people about my father, he thought, I must leave the bank. That wil

7、l be the end of my happy life. But Kendal was a fighter. If life is hard, he thought, I must fight it. There must be something that I can do. I dont want to tell the police. Is there another way？What shall I do？Four nights later, Kendal was sitting at his table at home. He heard the noise of a car f

8、ar away. It came nearer, but it did not come to the house. The car stopped some way along the road.The sound of a mans feet came to the door and Kendal went to open it. There was not much light outside. Kendal？asked the man who stood there. Kendal could just see a face which was partly covered with

9、a piece of cloth. Two hard eyes looked out through two holes in the cloth.Yes. said Kendal. Are you the man who calls himself A. B. C？Yes. Are you alone？Yes. Come in. Walk in front of me. said the man.Kendal turned, and the man shut the door. Kendal took him into the house. In the light of the room,

10、 Kendal could see better. The man was carrying a gun. The man came into the room and turned his head to left and right.Theres no one here, said Kendal. You can put that gun away. Youre a bigger man than I am. Theres a chair by the fire. Sit down. The man sat down in the chair by the fire and put his

11、 gun away. His eyes never left Kendals face, but he laughed.So youre going to pay, he said. Youre right. Kendal. Its better. What will people think if I tell them about your father？Will they want you to stay at the bank？I dont think so, and you dont think so. He laughed again.Kendal walked over to h

12、is table. The mans hard eyes under the cloth looked at him. Kendal took out some banknotes. He did not speak. He put the money into the mans 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 fi

13、ve hundred，as I told you. We ve had no trouble，and Im 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 onepound note. Will you look at that，Sir? he

14、 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 notes bad，he said. We though t so，said the policeman.Yes，its bad. Where did you get it? Are there some more bad notes in the town? Yes，Ill tell you about them. Said the

15、 policeman. Some shopkeepers brought us some notes like this. They were all bad. Have you seen any bad notes at the bank? No，I dont know of any. Thats 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 ha

16、d any before. Where did he get them? Do you know? No. We asked him，but he didnt 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 mans 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 fathers bad old notes and gave them to A. B. C. .