*

"I was skeptical of the success of the plan but could offer nothing
better. So I drew up a release as legally binding as I knew how to
make it in a case without precedent. I remember thinking that if the
matter ever came into court the judge would be as much at a loss as I
was.

"Our troubles, though, didn't spring from that source. Each of the
three parties accepted the arrangement eagerly and Drayle dismissed
them with a hand-shake, a wish for luck and a check for fifty thousand
dollars each. It's very nice to be wealthy, you know.

"Afterward, we went out and paid off the police. Perhaps that's
stating it too bluntly. I mean that Drayle thanked them for their
zealous attention to his interests, regretted that they had been
unnecessarily inconvenienced and treated that they would not take
amiss a small token of his appreciation of their devotion to duty.
Then he shook hands with them both and I believe I saw a yellow bill
transferred on each occasion. At any rate the officers saluted smartly
and left.

"Of course I was impatient to question Drayle, but I could see that he
was desperately fatigued. So I departed.

"Next morning I found my worst fears exceeded by the events of the
night. The three Farrels who had left us in apparently amiable spirits
had proceeded to the home of Mrs. and the original Mr. Farrel. There
the argument of who was to leave had been resumed. Both men were, of
course, of the same mind. Whether both desired to stay or flee I would
not presume to say. But an acrimonious dispute led to physical
hostilities, and while Mrs. Farrel, according to accounts, cheered
them on, they literally fought to the death. Being equally capable,
there was naturally, barring interruption, no other possible outcome.
I can well believe they employed the same tactics, swung the same
blows, and died at the same instant.

"Mrs. Farrel, after carefully retrieving both of her husbands' checks,
told a great deal of the story. As might be expected, nobody believed
the yarn except our profound federal law makers. They welcomed an
opportunity to investigate an outsider for a change and had all of us
before a committee.

"Finally the Congress of these United States of America, plus the
sagacious Supreme Court, decided that my client wasn't guilty of
anything, but that he mustn't do it again. At least that was the gist
of it. I recollect that I offered a defense of psycopathic
neuroticism.

"As a result of the _