. Chalker turned red, and looked very
uncomfortable. "Stick to business. Payment in full. Those are my
terms."

"You think, then, that the Precepts of your Sage are only intended for
men while they sit in the church? Many Englishmen think so, I have
observed."

"Payment in full, mister. That's what I want."

He banged his fist on the table.

"No abatement? No mercy shown to an old man on the edge of the grave?
Think, Mr. Chalker. You will soon be as old as Mr. Emblem, your hair
as white, your reason as unsteady--"

"Payment in full, and no more words."

"It is well. Then, Mr. Chalker, I have another proposal to make to
you."

"I thought we should come to something more. Out with it!"

"I believe you are a friend of Mr. Emblem's grandson?"

"Joe? Oh yes, I know Joe."

"You know him intimately?"

"Yes, I may say so."

"You know that he forged his grandfather's name; that he is a
profligate and a spendthrift, and that he has taken or borrowed from
his grandfather whatever money he could get, and that--in short, he is
a friend of your own?"

It was not until after his visitor had gone that Mr. Chalker
understood, and began to resent this last observation.

"Go on," he said. "I know all about Joe."

"Good. Then, if you can tell me anything about him which may be of use
to me I will do this. I will pay you double the valuation of Mr.
Emblem's shop, in return, for a receipt in full. If you can not, you
may proceed to sell everything by auction."

Mr. Chalker hesitated. A valuation would certainly give a higher
figure than a forced sale, and then that valuation doubled!

"Well," he said, "I don't know. It's a cruel hard case to be done out
of my money. How am I to find out whether anything I tell you would be
of use to you or not? What kind of thing do you want? How do I know
that if you get what you want, you won't swear it is of no use to
you?"

"You have the word of one who never broke his word."

Mr. Chalker laughed derisively.

"Why," he said, "I wouldn't take the word of an English bishop--no,
nor of an archbishop--where money is concerned. What is it--what is
the kind of thing you want to know?"

"It is concerned with a certain woman."

"Oh, well, if it is only a woman! I thought it might be something
about money. Joe, you see, like a good many other people, has got his
own ideas about money, and perhaps he isn't so strict in his dealings
as he might be--few men are--and I should not like t