et him do what he would, the matter must be made public.
Should Mr. Wharton hear of it,--as of course he would,--it must
be brazened out. He could not keep it from Mr. Wharton's ears by
quarrelling with Quintus Slide.

"It was true," said Lopez.

"I knew it before just as well as though I had seen it. I ain't
often very wrong in these things. You asked him for the money,--and
threatened him."

"I don't know about threatening him."

"'E wouldn't have sent it else."

"I told him that I had been deceived by his people in the borough,
and that I had been put to expense through the misrepresentations of
the Duchess. I don't think I did ask for the money. But he sent a
cheque, and of course I took it."

"Of course;--of course. You couldn't give me a copy of your letter?"

"Never kept a copy." He had a copy in his breast coat-pocket at that
moment, and Slide did not for a moment believe the statement made.
But in such discussions one man hardly expects truth from another.
Mr. Slide certainly never expected truth from any man. "He sent the
cheque almost without a word," said Lopez.

"He did write a note, I suppose?"

"Just a few words."

"Could you let me 'ave that note?"

"I destroyed it at once." This was also in his breast-pocket at the
time.

"Did 'e write it 'imself?"

"I think it was his private Secretary, Mr. Warburton."

"You must be sure, you know. Which was it?"

"It was Mr. Warburton."

"Was it civil?"

"Yes, it was. If it had been uncivil I should have sent it back. I'm
not the man to take impudence even from a duke."

"If you'll give me those two letters, Lopez, I'll stick to you
through thick and thin. By heavens I will! Think what the 'People's
Banner' is. You may come to want that kind of thing some of these
days." Lopez remained silent, looking into the other man's eager
face. "I shouldn't publish them, you know; but it would be so much to
me to have the evidence in my hands. You might do worse, you know,
than make a friend of me."

"You won't publish them?"

"Certainly not. I shall only refer to them."

Then Lopez pulled a bundle of papers out of his pocket. "There they
are," he said.

"Well," said Slide, when he had read them; "it is one of the rummest
transactions I ever 'eard of. Why did 'e send the money? That's what
I want to know. As far as the claim goes, you 'adn't a leg to stand
on."

"Not legally."

"You 'adn't a leg to stand on any way. But that doesn't much matter