bewilderment. Vandover dropped back upon the
cushions again, staring at him wildly with growing suspicion and anger.
He would not have thought it possible that Geary could so sacrifice
their old friendship to his own personal interest. The two continued
staring at each other across the table for a moment. In the silence
they heard the long rumble of a cable-car passing the house, and the
persistent jangling of its bell as it approached the street crossing. A
grocery wagon went up the side street, the horses' hoofs making a
cadenced clapping sound upon the asphalt.

"Well," exclaimed Vandover scornfully, "I suppose that's business, but I
would call it damned unkind!"

"Now, look here, old man," returned Geary consolingly. "Don't you take
the monkey-wrench off the safety valve like that. What am I here for if
it isn't to help you? Maybe you don't know that this is a mighty
unprofessional thing to do. Ah, you bet, if old Beale knew this I would
get it right in the neck. Don't you suppose I can help you more as
Wade's lawyer than I could as yours? And now that's the very first thing
I've got to tell you--to keep this dark, that I have seen you. I can't
do anything for you if you don't promise that."

"Oh, that's all right," returned Vandover, reassured. "That's all right,
you can--"

"It's not considered the right thing to do," Geary continued, not
heeding Vandover's answer, "but I just do it because"--he began to make
awkward gestures with both his hands--"because we're old friends, like
that. That was the very first thing I thought of when Beale Jr. told me
that we two had the case--that I could get you out of this hole better
as Wade's lawyer than as your own. Ah, you bet, I was clever enough to
see that the first thing."

"I'm sure it was awfully good of you, old man," said Vandover sincerely.
"I'm in a lot of trouble nowadays!"

"Well, now don't you bother, Van," answered Geary consolingly. "I guess
we can pull you out of this all right." He drew up to the table, looking
about from side to side. "Got any writing paper concealed about the
premises?" he asked. Vandover pushed him over his writing pad, and
Geary, taking the cap from his fountain pen, began asking a series of
questions, taking down his answers in shorthand. After he had asked him
as to his age, length of residence in the city, his property, and some
few other technical matters, he leaned back in his chair and said:

"Now, let's hear your side of th