the very man of all others
best adapted to open the paper whose seal you profess to be so willing
to see broken.'

"'His name!' It was all that I could say. 'Stuyvesant,' cried the man,
fixing me with his eye in which I in vain sought for some signs of
secret doubt or unconscious wavering. I rose; the position in which I
found myself was too overwhelming for instant decision. I needed time
for reflection, possibly advice--from you. A resolution to brave the
devil must be founded on something more solid than impulse, to hold its
own unmoved. I only stopped to utter one final word and ask one leading
question. 'You are a smart man,' said I, 'and you are also a villain.
Your smartness would give you food and drink, if you exercised it in a
manner worthy of a man, but your villainy if persisted in, will
eventually rob you of both, and bring you to the prison's cell or the
hangman's gallows. As for myself, I persist in saying that I am now and
always have been an honest man, whatever you may have overheard or find
yourself capable of swearing to. Yet a lie is an inconvenient thing to
have uttered against you at any time, and I may want to see you again;
if I do, where shall I find you?' He thrust his hand into his pocket and
drew out a small slip of folded paper, which he passed to me with a bow
that Chesterfield would have admired. 'You will find it written within,'
said he 'I shall look for you any time to-morrow, up to seven o'clock.
At that hour the lawyer of whom I have spoken, sends the statement which
he has in his possession to Mr. Stuyvesant.' I nodded my assent, and he
moved slowly towards the door. As he did so, his eyes fell upon a roll
of bread lying on a counter. I at once stepped forward and bought it.
Vile as he was, and deadly as was the snare he contemplated drawing
about me, I could not see that wolfish look of hunger, and not offer him
something to ease it. He took the loaf from my hands and bit greedily
into it but suddenly paused, and shook his head with a look like
self-reproach, and thrusting the loaf under his arm, turned towards the
door with the quick action of one escaping. Instantly, and before he was
out of sight or hearing, I drew the attention of the proprietor to him.
'Do you see that man?' I asked. 'He has been attempting a system of
blackmail upon me.' And satisfied with thus having provided a witness
able of identifying the man, in case of an emergency, I left the
building.

"And now you