see me
distinguished, wedded, and settled, your old scruples might give way,
and you would afford me this last, best chance. Shall I go on?"

The small, thin face of the elder brother seemed to have lost all of
its vitality; his fragile form was even more diminished; it might
almost have been paralysis which had seized him.

"Water!" he muttered. "I cannot talk."

The younger brother ran for a glass, and with a look of mingled guilt
and affection sought to support him with his arm. Arthur MacNair
feebly repelled his assistance.

"You may finish, sir," he said.

"God forgive me," cried Elk MacNair, sinking into a chair; "my
brother, I beseech you, do not think so evil of me as to suppose that
in this enterprise I would compromise your character for one minute,
and if it shall be necessary, all the fault shall be mine by open
confession. There is an old claim for postal services rendered many
years ago, which has reposed in the catacombs of one of the
departments. The claimant has long been dead, and it was purchased for
a small sum from his heirs. There are some equities about the claim;
the attestations in its favor are purely documentary, and I have so
entirely manipulated every instrumentality on the way to its passage,
judicial, legislative, and executive, that if the Committee on Ancient
Contracts should report favorably upon it at the beginning of the
session, my confederates in the House will see that it goes along, and
the department will pay it immediately. Congress will then at once
adjourn, within a day or two, for such is the usage here. With my
share of the money, which will be large, I will be a man of wealth and
able to turn my back once and for all upon this Capitol. You are to be
the chairman of the committee; the other members, as is habitual here,
will intrust the whole matter to you; a few words explanatory of this
claim will send it on its way, and the crisis of my life will have
passed."

When the younger brother had finished, he also seemed to have expended
his strength in the effort he had made, and he sat limp and
despondent. The elder brother, on the contrary, appeared to recover
his strength by a vigorous effort of the will. He stood up. He walked
straight before his brother and looked down upon him with his
penetrating blue eyes.

"Elk MacNair," he said, "tell me--by our common origin, solemnly,
truthfully, and on your honor, tell me--will this claim stand the test
of full investiga