o hold a dumb horror, and his fingers picked at
the arms of the chair. His mother had moved from beside him now, and
both her hands were patting at the man's sleeve in a pitiful way, while
again and again she tried to speak, but no words would come.

"It's a lie!" said Matthews again, in a colourless, mechanical way.

The man glanced at Mrs. Matthews as he put the five-dollar note back
into his pocket, seemed to choke a little, shook his head, and all trace
of the official sternness that had crept into his voice disappeared.

"It's no good," he said in a low tone. "Don't do that, Mrs. Matthews,
I've got to do my duty." He leaned a little toward the chair. "It's dead
to rights, Sammy. You might as well make a clean breast of it. It was
up to you and Al Gregor to see that the plate was destroyed. It WASN'T
destroyed; instead, it shows up in the hands of a gang of counterfeiters
that I've been watching for months. Furthermore, I've got the plate
itself. And finally, though I haven't placed him under arrest yet for
fear you might hear of it before I wanted you to and make a get-away,
I've got Al Gregor where I can put my hands on him, and I've got his
confession that you and he worked the game between you to get that plate
out of the bureau and dispose of it to the gang."

"Oh, my God!"--it came in a wild cry from the sick man, and in a
desperate, lurching way he struggled up to his feet. "Al Gregor said
that? Then--then I'm done!" He clutched at his temples. "But it's not
true--it's not true! If the plate was stolen, and it must have been
stolen, or that note wouldn't have been found, it was Al Gregor who
stole it--I didn't, I tell you! I knew nothing of it, except that he and
I were responsible for it and--and I left it to him--that's the only way
I'm to blame. He's caught, and he's trying to get out of it with a light
sentence by pretending to turn State's evidence, but--but I'll fight
him--he can't prove it--it's only his word against mine, and--"

The other shook his head again.

"It's no good, Sammy," he said, a touch of sternness back in his tones
again. "I told you it was open and shut. It's not only Al Gregor. One
of the gang got weak knees when I got him where I wanted him the other
night, and he swears that you are the one who DELIVERED the plate to
them. Between him and Gregor and what I know myself, I've got evidence
enough for any jury against every one of the rest of you."

Horror, fear, helplessness se