d. "Fern is a good fellow. He has gone out of business,
and I hope he'll never go in again. Take my advice, if you have learned
anything to his discredit, and keep it to yourself."

Weil could hardly control himself.

"Do you think I intend to let him forge my name on his notes and checks
and not put him under arrest!" he cried; "when the proofs are beyond
question?"

Mr. Boggs bowed and said he meant that, exactly. He further remarked
that he was astonished that his friend had any other idea in his mind.
The Fern family was one in which he had been favorably received and he
ought to do everything possible to prevent harm to any of its members.
As he proceeded in this vein, Mr. Boggs grew so earnest that he did not
notice the broad smile of happiness that was creeping over the face of
his companion, and was not prepared to find a pair of manly arms clasped
around his neck.

"You--you!" Archie Weil was trying to say. "You dear, kind, sensible
fellow. You've made me the happiest man on earth! Of course _I_ wouldn't
trouble Fern, but I was afraid _you_ would. He used your name as well as
mine, the rascal! Everything is paid up, and all the trouble now is that
a miserable scamp has got hold of some of the paper and wants to
blackmail him. And what I called you here to-day for is to get you to
agree--with me--to acknowledge every scrap of that paper as being our
own!"

The sudden change was more than Mr. Boggs could bear for a moment. He
sat, to use a common expression, "like a stuck pig," staring at Archie.

"You remember the nigger that worked for Fern," explained Mr. Weil. "He
got hold of some of these notes and checks, in Fern's office, and is
coming to look us up to-day, for the purpose of having his employer
arrested. A nice game, eh? But we will foil him, won't we? We'll show
him a trick worth several of his! He's probably gone to the Hoffman
House and he'll hang round till he finds me. I'll send word that I am to
be home this afternoon at five. You will be there with me. We'll tackle
him together. When he tells us that he has some forged paper in his
possession we'll act astonished and enraged; we'll ask him to show it to
us; and when we've got it all in our hands we'll say the signatures are
our own, and kick him down stairs. Are you with me, Walker? Is it a go,
old boy?"

The agreement was made without more ado. Mr. Boggs began to see the
humorous element in the affair, and actually came nearer laughing tha