Force," said Bingle without a sign of
resentment in his manner. "We can't help airing the flat. Our greatest
problem is to keep from airing it. There isn't a minute of the day
that it isn't being aired."
Besides Mr. Force, who was a friend by circumstance and not from
choice, Bingle possessed two loyal and devoted friends in Diggs and
Watson, proprietors of the Covent Garden Consolidated Fruit Company of
Columbus Avenue, Manhattan. They would have supplied him with
vegetables and cured meats without charge if the thing could have been
accomplished without his knowledge. They came often to see him, Watson
bringing his wife, the former Miss Stokes, and many a night was made
cheerful for the little man by these good sprites from another world.
Mr. Diggs resignedly awaited the day when Mr. Bingle's maid-of-all-
work could see her way clear to become Mrs. Diggs, and the equal of
Mrs. Watson, if not her superior by virtue of the position of her
husband's name on the firm's business cards. But if Diggs was
devotedly loyal to Melissa, Melissa was equally loyal to Mr.
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