hows you how one's instincts can lead one
astray," he smiled again, and picked up his hat.

"What do you mean? You're going to throw up a valuable client?"

"I don't know how valuable you're likely to be," said Tarling, "but at
the present moment the signs are not particularly encouraging. I tell you
I do not wish to be associated with this case, Mr. Lyne, and I think
there the matter can end."

"You don't think it's worth while, eh?" sneered Lyne. "Yet when I tell
you that I am prepared to give you a fee of five hundred guineas----"

"If you gave me a fee of five thousand guineas, or fifty thousand
guineas, I should still decline to be associated with this matter," said
Tarling, and his words had the metallic quality which precludes argument.

"At any rate, I am entitled to know why you will not take up this case.
Do you know the girl?" asked Lyne loudly.

"I have never met the lady and probably never shall," said Tarling. "I
only know that I will not be concerned with what is called in the United
States of America a 'frame up.'"

"Frame up?" repeated the other.

"A frame up. I dare say you know what it means--I will put the matter
more plainly and within your understanding. For some reason or other you
have a sudden grudge against a member of your staff. I read your face,
Mr. Lyne, and the weakness of your chin and the appetite of your mouth
suggest to me that you are not over scrupulous with the women who are in
your charge. I guess rather than know that you have been turned down with
a dull, sickening thud by a decent girl, and in your mortification you
are attempting to invent a charge which has no substance and no
foundation.

"Mr. Milburgh," he turned to the other, and again Mr. Milburgh ceased to
smile, "has his own reasons for complying with your wishes. He is your
subordinate, and moreover, the side threat of penal servitude for him if
he refuses has carried some weight."

Thornton Lyne's face was distorted with fury.

"I will take care that your behaviour is widely advertised," he said.
"You have brought a most monstrous charge against me, and I shall proceed
against you for slander. The truth is that you are not equal to the job I
intended giving you and you are finding an excuse for getting out."

"The truth is," replied Tarling, biting off the end of a cigar he had
taken from his pocket, "that my reputation is too good to be risked in
associating with such a dirty business as yours. I hate to