, where, said he, 'your little affair will
be arranged, and you made a rich man within thirty days. That is,' he
slily added, 'unless your father has already made a will, disinheriting
you.'

"I was shocked, sir, shocked beyond all my powers of concealment, not so
much at his words, which I hardly understood, as at his looks, which had
a world of evil suggestion in them; so I raised my fist and would have
knocked him down, only that I found two young fellows at my elbows, who
held me quiet for five minutes, while the old fellow talked to me. He
asked me if I came to him on a fool's errand or really to get money; and
when I admitted that I had cherished hopes of obtaining a clear two
thousand dollars from him, he coolly replied that he knew of but one
way in which I could hope to get such an amount, and that if I was too
squeamish to adopt it, I had made a mistake in coming to his shop, which
was no missionary institution, etc., etc.

"Not wishing to irritate him, for there was menace in his eye, I asked,
with a certain weak show of being sorry for my former heat, whereabouts
in Grand Street I should find this Groll.

"The retort was quick. 'Groll is not his name,' said he, 'and Grand
Street is not where you are to go to find him. I threw out a bait to see
if you would snap at it, but I find you timid, and therefore advise you
to drop the matter entirely.'

"I was quite willing to do so, and answered him to this effect;
whereupon, with a side glance I did not understand, but which made me
more or less uneasy in regard to his intentions towards me, he motioned
to the men who held my arms to let go their hold, which they at once
did.

"'We have your signature,' growled the old man as I went out. 'If you
peach on us or trouble us in any way we will show it to your father and
that will put an end to all your hopes of future fortune.' Then raising
his voice, he shouted to the girl in the outer office, 'Let the young
man see what he has signed.'

"She smiled and again brought forward the book in which I had so
recklessly placed my name, and there at the top of the page I read these
words: 'For moneys received, I agree to notify Rube Goodman, within the
month, of the death of my father, so that he may recover from me,
without loss of time, the sum of ten thousand dollars as his part of the
amount I am bound to receive as my father's heir.'

"The sight of these lines knocked me hollow. But I am less of a coward
morally