ected it. But I can tell you here and now
that John Fox isn't a man to be cheated and imposed upon. I mean to have
my rights."

"Are you aware, Mr. Fox, that your language is offensive and
insulting?"

"I don't care. I came here for justice. That money ought not to be in
your hands, who are no kith nor kin to Harry Vane. It ought to go to me,
and I mean to sue you for it."

"Mr. Fox, I propose to obey the law, but it appears to me that you are
taking it for granted that Harry Vane is dead without sufficient
proof."

"What more proof do you want than this paragraph? The fact is, you don't
want to believe it."

"No!" answered Mr. Howard in a tone of emotion, "I don't want to believe
that poor Harry is dead."

"Nor I," said John Fox. "If the boy hadn't been foolish and left my
happy home, he'd have been alive to-day. But we can't alter facts. He's
dead, and all our grief won't bring him back."

Benjamin Howard looked at the man curiously. "His grief doesn't seem to
be very profound," he thought. "I will test him."

"Even if I were convinced that poor Harry was dead," he said, "I should
not deliver up the money till you had established a legal claim to it."

"So you mean to put all possible obstacles in my way," said John Fox,
provoked. "I thought so. But, Mr. Howard, let me tell you that you can't
rob the orphan."

"Meaning yourself?"

"No, I mean the dead boy--that is the orphan's estate--without settling
with _me._ I am a man of influence, I'd have you know, and I'll put the
matter in the hands of the lawyer right off."

"It might be well, first, to listen to what I have to say."

"Aha! he's scared!" thought John Fox.

"I'm ready to hear what you've got to say," he answered, "but it won't
influence me a particle."

"I think it will. Harry Vane is alive!"

"What!" ejaculated John Fox, his face expressing his dismay. "It's a
lie. I don't believe it."

"Georgie," said Mr. Howard to his little son, who just then entered the
room, "go to my desk and bring me Harry Vane's letter."

This was done at once, John Fox meanwhile sitting in painful suspense.

"This letter," said Mr. Howard, taking it in his hand, "was posted, as
you see, at Melbourne, Australia. Harry was shipwrecked on an island,
from which he finally escaped, and was carried to Melbourne. He writes
me that he has gone to the mines, and is hoping to find some gold
there."

"Is this true?" asked Fox in a hollow voice.

"I will read you th