e
told me a word of the matter, to come straight to you."

"That was one of the wisest promises you ever made," says I. "We can't
afford to bully this fellow, whatever else we may do with him. Do you
think I am saying anything libelous against your excellent father's
character when I assert that if he saw the letter he would certainly
insist on your marriage being put off, at the very least?"

"Feeling as my father does about my marriage, he would insist on its being
dropped altogether, if he saw this letter," says Mr. Frank with a groan.
"But even that is not the worst of it. The generous, noble girl herself
says that if the letter appears in the paper, with all the unanswerable
comments this scoundrel would be sure to add to it, she would rather die
than hold me to my engagement, even if my father would let me keep it."

As he said this his eyes began to water. He was a weak young fellow, and
ridiculously fond of her. I brought him back to business with another rap
of the paper-knife.

"Hold up, Mr. Frank," says I. "I have a question or two more. Did you
think of asking the young lady whether, to the best of her knowledge, this
infernal letter was the only written evidence of the forgery now in
existence?"

"Yes, I did think directly of asking her that," says he; "and she told me
she was quite certain that there was no written evidence of the forgery
except that one letter."

"Will you give Mr. Davager his price for it?" says I.

"Yes," says Mr. Frank, quite peevish with me for asking him such a
question. He was an easy young chap in money matters, and talked of
hundreds as most men talk of sixpences.

"Mr. Frank," says I, "you came here to get my help and advice in this
extremely ticklish business, and you are ready, as I know without asking,
to remunerate me for all and any of my services at the usual professional
rate. Now, I've made up my mind to act boldly--desperately, if you
like--on the hit or miss, win all or lose all principle--in dealing with
this matter.

"Here is my proposal. I'm going to try if I can't do Mr. Davager out of
his letter. If I don't succeed before to-morrow afternoon, you hand him
the money, and I charge you nothing for professional services. If I do
succeed, I hand you the letter instead of Mr. Davager, and you give me
the money instead of giving it to him. It's a precious risk for me, but
I'm ready to run it. You must pay your five hundred anyway. What do you
say to my plan? Is