m there!"

"What!"

"Yes," said Joey with a complacent stroke at his upper lip. "I have
duplicate keys to all your dispatch boxes and filing cabinets."

"You fiend!"

"I wished to protect you against any temptation toward ingratitude,"
explained Joey. "I have been, on the whole, much entertained by your
correspondence. There was much chaff--that was to be expected. But there
was also some precious grain which I have garnered with care. For
instance, I have copies of all Zurich's letters to you. You have been
endeavoring to ruin your cousin, fearing that McClintock might relent and
remember Stanley in his will; you have succeeded at last. Whatever new
villainy you have to propose, it now should be easier to name it, since
you are relieved from the necessity of beating round the bush.--You were
saying--?"

"Stanley has found a mine, a copper deposit of fabulous richness; so he
writes, and so Zurich assures me. Zurich has had a sample of it assayed;
he does not know where the deposit is located, but hopes to find it
before Stanley or Stanley's partner can get secure possession. Zurich
wants me to put up cash to finance the search and the early development."

"Well? Where do I come in? I am no miner, and I have no cash. I am eating
husks."

"You listen. Singularly enough, Stanley has sent his partner up here to
make me exactly the same proposition."

"That was Stan's partner to-day--that old gray goat?"

"Exactly. So, you see, I have two chances."

"I need not ask you," said Joey with a sage nod, "whether you intend to
throw in your lot with the thieves or with the honest men. You will flock
with the thieves."

"I will," said Mitchell grimly. "My cousin had quite supplanted me with
my so-called Uncle McClintock. The old dotard would have left him every
cent, except for that calf-love affair of Stan's with the Selden girl.
Some reflections on the girl's character had come to McClintock's ears."

"Mitchell," said Joey, "before God, you make me sick!"

"What's the matter with you now, fool?" demanded Mitchell. "I never so
much as mentioned the girl's name in McClintock's hearing."

"Trust you!" said the clerk. "You're a slimy toad, you are. You're
nauseatin'. Pah! Ptth!"

"McClintock repeated these rumors to Stan," said the lawyer gloatingly.
"Stan called him a liar. My uncle never liked me. It is very doubtful if
he leaves me more than a moderate bequest, even now. But I have at least
made sure that he leav