he lid on. Once or twice, when there was an unexpected call for
funds, the treasury was almost empty, and Schwartz carried things over
himself. I went to Plattsburg as Mr. Fleming's private secretary when he
became treasurer, and from the first I knew things were even worse than
the average state government.

"Schwartz and Fleming had to hold together; they hated each other, and
the feeling was trebled when Fleming married Schwartz's divorced wife."

Margery looked at me with startled, incredulous eyes. What she must have
seen confirmed Wardrop's words, and she leaned back in her chair, limp
and unnerved. But she heard and comprehended every word Wardrop was
saying.

"The woman was a very ordinary person, but it seems Schwartz cared for
her, and he tried to stab Mr. Fleming shortly after the marriage. About
a year ago Mr. Fleming said another attempt had been made on his life,
with poison; he was very much alarmed, and I noticed a change in him
from that time on. Things were not going well at the treasury; Schwartz
and his crowd were making demands that were hard to supply, and behind
all that, Fleming was afraid to go out alone at night.

"He employed a man to protect him, a man named Carter, who had been a
bartender in Plattsburg. When things began to happen here in Manchester,
he took Carter to the home as a butler.

"Then the Borough Bank got shaky. If it went down there would be an ugly
scandal, and Fleming would go too. His notes for half a million were
there, without security, and he dared not show the canceled notes he
had, with Schwartz's indorsement.

"I'm not proud of the rest of the story, Margery." He stopped his
nervous pacing and stood looking down at her. "I was engaged to marry a
girl who was everything on earth to me, and--I was private secretary to
the state treasurer, with the princely salary of such a position!

"Mr. Fleming came back here when the Borough Bank threatened failure,
and tried to get money enough to tide over the trouble. A half million
would have done it, but he couldn't get it. He was in Butler's position
exactly, only he was guilty and Butler was innocent. He raised a little
money here, and I went to Plattsburg with securities and letters. It
isn't necessary to go over the things I suffered there; I brought back
one hundred and ten thousand dollars, in a package in my Russia leather
bag. And--I had something else."

He wavered for the first time in his recital. He went on mo