our hands gave you away--I recognized
them."

"And he's the man who tried to bribe me!" Murk cried. "I can tell it by
his hands, too!"

"You tried to smash Prale's alibi," Jim Farland continued. "You had him
followed that night and you sent those notes to the barber and the
clothing merchant, with money in them."

"And you betrayed yourself when you began using violence," Prale put in.
"You were too vindictive. You showed that you had some good reason of
your own for wanting to drive me away from New York quickly!"

"Oh, we've got you!" Farland repeated. "You are as good as in the
electric chair now!"

George Lerton looked as if he might have been in it. He was breathing in
gasps, and his face was white. His eyes held an expression of terror.

"I guess--you've got me!" he said. "But I'll never--go to the chair!"

Farland stepped across to him. "Get it off your chest!" he suggested.

"I--I'll talk about it--yes!" George Lerton said. "I--I sold out
Griffin. I wanted money, and I hated Griffin because he had put Sidney
Prale over me. Then Sid had his trouble with the girl and ran away. I
fixed things so it looked as if he had been the guilty one.

"I pretended to hate Sid for what he was supposed to have done. I
suggested the scheme of vengeance, and worked to get the influential men
together. Then he came back--with his million. I hated him all the more
because of that. I was afraid that, if he remained in New York, he would
find out the truth and I'd be exposed. I knew what that would mean, and
I was beginning to get rich.

"So I had him followed and watched. I trailed him myself and met him on
Fifth Avenue, and tried to get him to go away, and afterward denied that
I had seen him at all, for he was accused of the murder of Rufus
Shepley."

"Which was your deed!" Farland put in. "Go ahead--tell it all. Let us
see whether you were clever or merely an amateur at crime."

"Oh, I was clever enough!" Lerton boasted. "I--I killed Shepley because
he was about to have me arrested for embezzlement. I had been handling a
vast sum for him, aside from his regular business. While he was
traveling, I speculated with the money--and lost. He knew it. I could
not repay.

"I had an engagement with him that night at the hotel. The detective I
had working for me had reported that Sid had had a quarrel with Shepley,
and where he had gone afterward and what he had done. There I saw my
chance.

"I did not have myself announce