was annoyingly conscious of looking away
from him, as she said:--

"I think you have no right to ask that of me."

Surface's son smiled sadly. "It is not about--anything that you could
possibly guess. I have made a discovery of--a business nature, which
concerns you vitally."

"A discovery?"

"Yes. The circumstances are such that I do not feel that anybody should
know of it just yet, but you. However--"

"I think you must leave me to decide, after hearing you--"

"I believe I will. I am not in the least afraid to do so. Miss Weyland,
Henry G. Surface is alive."

Her face showed how completely taken back she was by the introduction of
this topic, so utterly remote from the subject she had expected of him.

"Not only that," continued Queed, evenly--"he is within reach. Both
he--and some property which he has--are within reach of the courts."

"Oh! How do you know?... Where is he?"

"For the present I am not free to answer those questions."

There was a brief silence. Sharlee looked at the fire, the stirrings of
painful memories betrayed in her eyes.

"We knew, of course, that he might be still alive," she said slowly.
"I--hope he is well and happy. But--we have no interest in him now.
That is all closed and done with. As for the courts--I am sure that he
has been punished already more than enough."

"It is not a question of punishing him any more. You fail to catch my
meaning, it seems. It has come to my knowledge that he has some money, a
good deal of it--"

"But you cannot have imagined that I would want his money?"

"His money? He has none. It is all yours. That is why I am telling you
about it."

"Oh, but that can't be possible. I don't understand."

Sitting upright in his chair, as businesslike as an attorney, Queed
explained how Surface had managed to secrete part of the embezzled
trustee funds, and had been snugly living on it ever since his release
from prison.

"The exact amount is, at present, mere guesswork. But I think it will
hardly fall below fifty thousand dollars, and it may run as high as a
hundred thousand. I learn that Mr. Surface thinks, or pretends to think,
that this money belongs to him. He is, needless to say, wholly mistaken.
I have taken the liberty of consulting a lawyer about it, of course
laying it before him as a hypothetical case. I am advised that when Mr.
Surface was put through bankruptcy, he must have made a false statement
in order to withhold this money. Therefor