me, Avery. You must have made quite a good thing out of
it."

"What?"

"I say, your position here must have been rather profitable to you,
Avery; I have not treated you badly myself, recognizing that you must
often be tempted by gaining information here from which you might make
money; and your other employers must have overbid me."

"I don't understand; I beg your pardon, Mr. Santoine, but I do not
follow what you are talking about."

"No? Then we must go a little further. This last year a minor
reorganization became necessary in some of the Latron properties. My
friend, Gabriel Warden--who was an honest man, Avery--had recently
greatly increased his interest in those properties; it was inevitable
the reorganization should be largely in his hands. I remember now
there was opposition to his share in it; the fact made no impression on
me at the time; opposition is common in all things. During his work
with the Latron properties, Warden--the honest man, Avery--discovered
the terrible injustice of which I speak.

"I suspect there were discrepancies in the lists of stockholders,
showing a concealed ownership of considerable blocks of stock, which
first excited his suspicions. Whatever it may have been Warden
certainly investigated further; his investigation revealed to him the
full particulars of the injustice done to the nameless fugitive who had
been convicted as the murderer of Matthew Latron. Evidently this
helpless, hopeless man had been thought worth watching by some one, for
Warden's discoveries gave him also Overton's address. Warden risked
and lost his life trying to help Overton.

"I do not need to draw your attention, Avery, to the very peculiar
condition which followed Warden's death. Warden had certainly had
communication with Overton of some sort; Overton's enemies, therefore,
were unable to rid themselves of him by delivering him up to the police
because they did not know how much Overton knew. When I found that
Warden had made me his executor and I went west and took charge of his
affairs, their difficulties were intensified, for they did not dare to
let suspicion of what had been done reach me. There was no course open
to them, therefore, but to remove Overton before my suspicions were
aroused, even if it could be done only at desperate risk to themselves.

"What I am leading up to, Avery, is your own connection with these
events. You looked after your own interests rather carefully, I