artiness that Dick
remembered so well as his customary manner in the days before his
father's death.

"Well, well, Dick Warner! My old friend's son! I am glad to see you,
Dick! What brings you here, so far from New York?"

"Business, Mr. Hallo."

"You are starting young, Dick! May I ask what sort of business? And can
I help you, or is this just a friendly visit to a man who held you on
his knee when you were a baby back in New York?"

"Oh, cut that out, Mr. Hallo!" said Dick, disgusted. "You know mighty
well why I'm here. I want to know what you're going to do about the way
you cheated my mother. You told her the business in New York had failed,
and she believed you. Now are you going to do the right thing?"

"I don't understand, Dick," said Hallo. Plainly he was trying to be very
patient, and his whole manner was that of a kindly, genial man assailed
by a bad little boy, but determined not to lose his temper. "Your
father's estate was settled in the regular way. No one regretted his
death more than I. The way things went afterward proved how important he
was to the business. I lost a great deal of money in the failure, you
know."

"You didn't!" said Dick. "Oh, we've got the goods on you, Mike Hallo!
And I'll tell you something, too. Maybe there's nothing I can do to you
here. I don't know yet--not until I've hired a lawyer who knows all
about the sort of law you have here. But I know this much. You'll be
wanting to come back to America sometime--you'll have to, on account of
your business. And we've found out enough to fix it so that you'll be
arrested the minute you step off the steamer on to American soil!"

This was a pure bluff, but it might be true, at that. What Dick did know
was that Hallo had stolen money, and he was sure that, whether the law
would make it possible to cause his arrest or not, it ought to make that
not only possible, but easy. Beyond question, too, the statement had its
effect. Hallo's small eyes were getting smaller and narrower, and though
the smile was still on his face, he kept it there with an obvious
effort.

"You hurt me, Richard," he said. "I did all I could for your mother. I
tried in every possible way to cover up the mistakes your father made
before he died--"

"You said just now that if he had lived things would have been all
right! You don't want to mix up your stories that way, Mike! It won't
sound well when they get you into court and try you!" retorted Dick,
his temp