g very heavily of late, and really I can't raise fifteen
thousand at a moment's notice. You know I am good for ten times the sum.
Why not let it rest for a week, say?"

"Mr. Tandy," replied Duncan, enunciating every syllable as precisely as
if he had been reciting a lesson in a foreign tongue, "let me remind you
of something. Some time ago you offered to pay me a high price to commit
a crime. You remember the circumstance, I have no doubt. You remember
that I refused, and that you sought revenge by lying to the men who were
then employing me. You told an infamous lie that, if it had been
believed, would have blasted my good name forever. No, don't interrupt.
I had not intended to mention this matter, especially in Mr. Leftwich's
presence," bowing toward the bookkeeper, whose jaw had relaxed in
astonishment. "I had not intended to mention that matter, but you have
forced me to remind you of it, by trying now to persuade me to commit a
crime without any inducement whatever except such as may be implied in
my concern for your convenience. Until now I have been prepared to
consider your convenience so far as I could do so consistently with my
duty to the bank. I am now not disposed to consider it at all. You must
bring fifteen thousand dollars here within an hour, and redeem that
piece of paper, or I shall proceed against you criminally. After you
shall have done that, you must make such other deposits of cash or
acceptable securities as may be necessary to set your general account in
order. That is all I have to say. I give you one hour in which to take
up this paper, and I give you the rest of the day in which to adjust the
other matter. That ends our conference, and I must excuse myself. You
know your way out."

XXX

THE MYSTERY OF TANDY

Tandy quitted the bank in very serious distress of mind. He was a
capitalist of large means, but even a great capitalist--and he could not
be reckoned as quite that--may sometimes find it inconvenient to raise
money in considerable sums upon the instant. It so happened that just at
this time Tandy's means were all employed and his credit stretched
almost to the point of breaking, by reason of his excessive and largely
concealed investments in a number of enterprises.

On the moral side, it would have been difficult even for Tandy himself
to say just what measure of suffering he endured. His conscience was
casehardened, but his financial reputation was not only a valuable, b