hom he had to deal, and that he was provided with weapons with
which to enforce his argument. Malcolm proceeded, "I never was and
never will be a sneak. I am bound by honor as well as you. You are a
lawyer, and a good one. I am a burglar, sir, and am not ashamed of my
jobs. You exalt your profession, and so do I mine. Business is
business, and mine is as honorable as yours. Think you I am less
public-spirited than you? Think you I love my wife and children less
than you? Come, come, Mr. Burchard; down from your perch! You are a
man of principle. I am no sardine. You have taken my money, and you
cannot return it if you would, for the bankers upon whom it was drawn
have failed, and the draft has not been presented and is your loss. I
know what you would like to say. It is true I used dissimulation and
procured an invitation to your dinner-party, and here is Winfield
Burchard's letter to you (presenting it), whose handwriting I
imitated; but it was all in my line. I laid a bet I could do it, and
that draft was just the sum I won. Bristol Bill pays up like gentle
folks, but then he didn't know my opportunities. What possessed you to
dismiss Maguire? but no matter; that is all gone by. During the last
eight years I have passed at least six hundred nights in your house,
and have been very frequently in your sleeping-room, and have heard
your confidential talk with your wife. Doubt it, do you? Yes, your
door _was_ always bolted on the inside, and no other one opened into
your chamber, but I can tell you conversations you had with your wife,
which will convince you. Do you remember one night when your wife
became nervous and fell to crying lest the pain she felt in her breast
should prove to be a cancer, and you told her that you would go to
Boston with her and consult Dr. Jackson and ask Dr. P. to go with you?
Do, eh? And do you remember one night when your niece slept upon the
sofa in your room? I had no idea she was there, and needlessly waked
her. She screamed, and while you was attending to her fright I slipped
out and didn't leave your door bolted. I heard you tell her she was
dreaming.

"And do you remember one night telling your wife that you could not
imagine how three cigars got out of a new box you had opened the night
before? Those cigars were the only things that either Maguire or I
ever took from your house.

"I will make you this proposition, and if you will accept it you will
do well. By the night train my two