lot worse.
I'm making a good living, and so have no kick coming."

"If I ever need a man in your line, I'll call you in," George Lerton
said. "And the pay will be all right, too."

"Don't doubt it," Farland replied.

"Want to see me about something special this morning?"

"Yes, if you can give me a few minutes."

"All the time you like," Lerton replied.

That was not like the man, Jim Farland knew. Lerton was the sort to try
to make himself important, the always-busy man who had no time for
anybody less than a millionaire.

Farland smiled and sat down in a chair at one end of the desk. He
twisted his hat in his hands, looked across at George Lerton, cleared
his throat, and spoke.

"You know about Sidney Prale being in a bit of trouble, of course?"

"Yes. Can't understand it," Lerton replied, frowning. "Sidney always had
a temper, of course, but I never thought he would resort to murder
during a fit of it. You know, I never got along with him any too well.
He had a quarrel with his sweetheart in the old days and left for
Honduras twenty-four hours later and remained there for ten years."

"I know all about that, of course," Farland said. "You perhaps have
guessed that he sent for me--engaged me to get him out of this little
scrape."

"Murder, a little scrape?" Lerton gasped. "I should call it a very
serious matter."

"Let us hope that it will not be a serious matter for Sid," Farland said
with feeling. "I believe that the boy is innocent, and I hope to be able
to clear him. Will you help me?"

"I never had any particular love for Sidney, and neither did he for me,"
George Lerton said. "However, he is my cousin, and I hate to see him in
trouble. But how can I help you? I don't know anything about the
affair."

"An alibi is an important thing in a case like this," Farland said. "We
want to prove an alibi, if we can, of course. Sidney says that you met
him on Fifth Avenue----"

"And I cannot understand that," Lerton interrupted. "Why should he say
such a thing?"

"You didn't meet him?"

"I certainly did not! I cannot lie about such a thing, even to save my
cousin. Why, it would make me a sort of accessory, wouldn't it? I cannot
afford to be mixed up in anything of the sort. You must understand
that!"

"And you didn't urge him to leave New York and remain away for the rest
of his life?"

"I didn't see him at all," George Lerton persisted. "Why on earth should
I care whether he remains in New York