rned. Such men as these were
of the lowest stratum welcomed at the resort. He stepped out and closed
the door.

"Well, you know what I am here for, don't you?" said the man
confidentially.

"I can guess," said Hurstwood softly.

"Well, do you intend to try and keep the money?"

"That's my affair," said Hurstwood grimly.

"You can't do it, you know," said the detective, eyeing him coolly.

"Look here, my man," said Hurstwood authoritatively, "you don't
understand anything about this case, and I can't explain to you.
Whatever I intend to do I'll do without advice from the outside. You'll
have to excuse me." "Well, now, there's no use of your talking that
way," said the man, "when you're in the hands of the police. We can make
a lot of trouble for you if we want to. You're not registered right in
this house, you haven't got your wife with you, and the newspapers don't
know you're here yet. You might as well be reasonable."

"What do you want to know?" asked Hurstwood.

"Whether you're going to send back that money or not."

Hurstwood paused and studied the floor.

"There's no use explaining to you about this," he said at last. "There's
no use of your asking me. I'm no fool, you know. I know just what you
can do and what you can't. You can create a lot of trouble if you want
to. I know that all right, but it won't help you to get the money. Now,
I've made up my mind what to do. I've already written Fitzgerald and
Moy, so there's nothing I can say. You wait until you hear more from
them."

All the time he had been talking he had been moving away from the door,
down the corridor, out of the hearing of Carrie. They were now near the
end where the corridor opened into the large general parlour.

"You won't give it up?" said the man.

The words irritated Hurstwood greatly. Hot blood poured into his brain.
Many thoughts formulated themselves. He was no thief. He didn't want the
money. If he could only explain to Fitzgerald and Moy, maybe it would be
all right again.

"See here," he said, "there's no use my talking about this at all. I
respect your power all right, but I'll have to deal with the people who
know."

"Well, you can't get out of Canada with it," said the man.

"I don't want to get out," said Hurstwood. "When I get ready there'll be
nothing to stop me for."

He turned back, and the detective watched him closely. It seemed an
intolerable thing. Still he went on and into the room.

"Who was it?" a