dy because of certain
desirable things which it could do, if it would make the effort, for
the city's benefit.

He did not know, but he supposed that Mr. Flaherty, agreeing with him
about these things and perhaps moved by both public spirit and
friendly impulse, had persuaded some of his own friends higher up to
suggest his appointment to the commission. He had been, he declared to
the newspapermen, surprised and deeply gratified by that appointment
and keenly sensible of how great an honor it was, and he had hoped to
make his service upon the commission tell for the good of the city.

But he did not wish to hold any position, and especially one so
peculiarly delicate in its relations to the public service, under
suspicion of any sort of evil practice. And therefore he was willing
to resign at once if the investigating committee and the mayor thought
they were warranted even in assuming his guilt, although he himself
would deeply feel the injustice of such a decision and would be
profoundly disappointed should he be unable to make trial of the plans
he had been formulating.

The men from the papers were eager to know all that he could, or
would, tell them about Hugh Gordon. Had Gordon tried to blackmail
him? Was he a relative? What had become of him? Was there anything in
Miss Annister's suggestion that Gordon had made a prisoner of him and
tried to extract money in that way?

The reporters all noticed that he answered their questions on this
subject slowly and with caution. Some of the queries he evaded, some
he adroitly ignored, only a few did he meet squarely and fully, and he
gave them the very distinct impression that he thought this phase of
the matter of no consequence whatever. The sum total of the
information they got from him was that he had a very slight
acquaintance with "this man Gordon," who, he admitted, was a sort of
connection; that he could not exactly say the fellow had tried to
blackmail him, although he had made some threats and also had, to
express it politely, borrowed money of him; that he had not been held
in durance vile during his absence, but had been freely chasing the
almighty dollar in a backwoods region of the South; and that he had
not the slightest idea whither Gordon had gone, or what had become of
him.

And all the time that he talked, and, indeed, through every moment of
the day, the one thing of which he was supremely conscious was that
bulky envelope that seemed like a weigh