e will repay the villains to the
uttermost farthing."

And, in his turn, Witherspoon was sorely baffled, for the sudden
appointment of Mr. Arthur Ferris of New York as Consul of the United
States at Amoy, China, had been duly gazetted. Only to Stillwell did
the eager Witherspoon confide his fears that one of the unpunished
criminals was escaping in honorable guise.

"You are in error, my boy," confidently answered the legal Solon.
"We have had Ferris shadowed on behalf of the executors ever since
the death of Hugh Worthington. The fact is," he said, lowering his
voice confidentially, "Senator Dunham is at the helm in this thing.
You well know that old Hugh and the Senator were closely allied.
Now, Hugh blindly trusted Ferris, as the statesman's nephew, and,
in fact, Ferris is, to a certain extent, a very dangerous customer
for all of us. He had papers and secrets which might ruin his uncle,
and a discovery of the hidden relations with Hugh would gravely
affect our company's commanding position. Old Boardman has had a
week of private conference with Senator Dunham.

"Boardman knew every secret of poor old Hugh's heart. Dunham and
Boardman have gone over all the documents and matters surrendered
by Ferris, and the Senator vouches for Ferris' future silence.

"He has himself set off a hundred thousand dollars of our stock,
in Ferris' name (in escrow) as a guarantee of the young man's
silence. This is a present to Ferris, who let Dunham have the first
privately telegraphed news of Hugh's death.

"Why, sir. Dunham turned the market for a half million on that! It
appears the daughter telegraphed the first news of the accident to
Ferris, at the old man's dying request. And Ferris cunningly held
it back, so that the Associated Press did not get it for a day.
Then came the panicky drop in our stock. Dunham sold huge blocks
short and filled later at the lowest notch, forty points below!"

"I thought," slowly remarked Witherspoon, "that Ferris would perhaps
try to blackmail the estate!"

"So he did," drily answered Stillwell. "He gets one hundred thousand
dollars in clear settlement of all his claims for legal services
for the past five years, as rendered to the Worthington Estate."

"Oh! I see," bitterly remarked Witherspoon. "Each side puts up a
hundred thousand dollars as the price of his silence!"

"And," curtly said Stillwell, "we now hold Dunham responsible that
Ferris does not return to America for four years.