s of the world in refusing to honor
them. You, as well as Mr. Emerson and Sir James Flash, have won large
sums from Mr. Cotter, and the fact that the IOUs he gave you were found
on Mr. Emerson points very strongly to their being in confederacy with
you in the matter; at any rate, they point so strongly that, whether a
jury would convict or not on the evidence that we shall be able to lay
before them, there can be no question whatever as to what the opinion of
men of honor will be. These IOUs are in our hands. Mr. Cotter does not
desire to pursue the case; he will, however, refuse absolutely to pay
those IOUs, and in doing so he will have the approval of all honorable
men. That being so, the IOUs are absolutely useless to you, and if you
will agree to my tearing them up now, he has most kindly consented to
let the matter drop in your cases."

The three men, who had all turned very white when he was speaking, now
protested angrily against imputations being made on their honor.

"Well, sirs," the officer said, "in that case the matter can, of course,
go on. You know best what the feeling will be as to these IOUs. They
will form an important item of evidence against you, you will see. As
the matter stands, either you gave them to Emerson to collect for you,
without any money passing between you--a very strange procedure, which
you will find it difficult to explain--or else he gave you the coin for
them, and you passed them over to him, and have, therefore, parted with
all claim on Mr. Cotter on your own account. Of course I impound them
with the other IOUs as proof of a conspiracy between you. Now, sirs, am
I to tear them up or not?"

The three men looked at each other, and then one of them said:

"We protest altogether against the assertion, sir, but at the same
time, as there can be little doubt that Emerson and Sir James Flash have
played unfairly, and we do not wish any association of our names
with theirs, we are perfectly willing that the IOUs, which, under the
circumstances, we should never have dreamt of presenting, should be
destroyed."

"I think that you have chosen wisely," the chief said dryly. "It is a
pity that you did not do so at first. These are the IOUs he gave to one
or other of you. Perhaps it would be pleasanter for you to destroy them
yourselves."

The three men took the papers with their names on them and tore them up.

"Thank you," he went on sarcastically. "That will place you in a
better po