t," says I, putting the letter into my private
drawer.

"Clever!" cries Mr. Frank, "he ought to be horsewhipped within an inch
of his life. I would have done it myself; but she made me promise,
before she told me a word of the matter, to come straight to you."

"That was one of the wisest promises you ever made," says I. "We can't
afford to bully this fellow, whatever else we may do with him. Do you
think I am saying anything libelous against your excellent father's
character when I assert that if he saw the letter he would certainly
insist on your marriage being put off, at the very least?"

"Feeling as my father does about my marriage, he would insist on its
being dropped altogether, if he saw this letter," says Mr. Frank, with
a groan. "But even that is not the worst of it. The generous, noble
girl herself says that if the letter appears in the paper, with all the
unanswerable comments this scoundrel would be sure to add to it, she
would rather die than hold me to my engagement, even if my father would
let me keep it."

As he said this his eyes began to water. He was a weak young fellow, and
ridiculously fond of her. I brought him back to business with another
rap of the paper-knife.

"Hold up, Mr. Frank," says I. "I have a question or two more. Did you
think of asking the young lady whether, to the best of her knowledge,
this infernal letter was the only written evidence of the forgery now in
existence?"

"Yes, I did think directly of asking her that," says he; "and she told
me she was quite certain that there was no written evidence of the
forgery except that one letter."

"Will you give Mr. Davager his price for it?" says I.

"Yes," says Mr. Frank, quite peevish with me for asking him such a
question. He was an easy young chap in money matters, and talked of
hundreds as most men talk of sixpences.

"Mr. Frank," says I, "you came here to get my help and advice in this
extremely ticklish business, and you are ready, as I know without
asking, to remunerate me for all and any of my services at the usual
professional rate. Now, I've made up my mind to act boldly--desperately,
if you like--on the hit or miss, win all or lose all principle--in
dealing with this matter. Here is my proposal. I'm going to try if
I can't do Mr. Davager out of his letter. If I don't succeed before
to-morrow afternoon, you hand him the money, and I charge you nothing
for professional services. If I do succeed, I hand you the letter