granting him freedom from prosecution did actually spare him
anything, I should say 'No' also, standing in your place. But with the
facts made public as they will be, with Judge Gordon losing his
legislative office and the esteem in which he had been held, with him
relinquishing the bulk of his fortune as he agrees, with his finding
it necessary to go elsewhere to live at his time of life, with the
thought constantly in his mind of how low he has been brought, don't
you think he will be suffering quite adequately? I should think so. He
would probably die quicker in prison, but I believe he will suffer
more outside. See, I don't hesitate to measure the alternatives, for
the Judge and I have discussed and canvassed the whole situation,
which was necessary, of course, in order to arrive at a clear
understanding." And Pollock smiled genially.

"Does he admit my charges?"

"He hasn't denied them."

"Will he admit them?"

"I've outlined exactly what we must have--deeds to his property and an
acknowledged statement of the Joseph Weir and James Dent affair,
supplementing the Saurez affidavit, which by the way he at first
thought we did not possess but which an account of what happened last
night in the mountains and your recovery of the same"--Pollock's
eyelid dropped for an instant towards Weir--"convinced him of. This
statement is not to be produced as evidence against his associates
except in the last extremity, and if not needed is always to be kept
secret. We are to give him, when the papers are signed, a draft for
ten thousand dollars. This will permit him to have something to live
on. He states that he will want to go from San Mateo at once."

During this speech Weir's eyes had glanced to and fro between the
lawyer ticking off his words with his glasses and the figure in the
leather chair. Old and shattered as Judge Gordon had suddenly become,
wretched as Weir saw him to be, the engineer nevertheless felt no
pity. The man had been in the conspiracy that had ruined his father;
he suffered now not because of remorse but through fear of public
opinion; and was a fox turned craven because he found himself
enmeshed in a net. And to save his own skin he was selling out his
friends.

Weir's face went dark, but Pollock quickly stepped forward and drew
him into a corner of the room.

"Keep calm, man," was the lawyer's low advice. "Do you think if we had
him tied up as tightly as I've made him believe that I should propo