nal that he was led astray by a stronger
character, no one would ever be punished. Pretty nearly everyone who
ever gets arrested can frame up that excuse."

"You don't think it's a good one?"

"It is, to a certain extent. But if our way of punishing people for
doing wrong is any good at all, and if it is really to have any good
effect, it's got to teach the weaklings that every man is responsible
himself for what he does, that he can't shift the blame to someone else
and get out of it that way.

"You remember the poem Kipling wrote about that? I mean that line that
goes: 'The sins that we sin by two and two we must pay for one by one.'
It seems pretty hard sometimes, but it's got to be done. However, even
if Holmes gets out of this, it's a thundering good thing that we've got
as much as we have against him."

"I don't see why, if you say he's going to get off without punishment."

"Well, I think it's apt to make him more careful, for one thing. And
for another, some people will believe the evidence against him, and
he'll have the punishment of being partly discredited at least. That's
better than nothing, you know. One reason he's in a position to do
these rotten things without fear of being caught is that he's supposed
to be so respectable. Let people once begin to think he isn't any
better than he should be, and he'll have to mind his p's and q's just
like anyone else, I can tell you."

"That's so! I didn't think of that."

"The thing to do now is to make sure that the trial comes off at once.
I've got an idea that they'll try to get a delay, now that they've had
to give up their hope of rushing it through while I was tied up and
couldn't tell whatever I happened to know. They'll figure that the
more time they have, the more chance there is that they can work out
some new scheme, or that something will turn up in their favor--some
piece of luck. And it's just as likely to happen as not to happen,
too, if we give them a chance to hold things up for a few weeks. You
want to get away, too, don't you?"

"We certainly do, Charlie. The girls would be dreadfully disappointed
if we didn't get back in time to make the tramp through the mountains
with them."

"Well, I guess we'll manage it all right. Leave that to me. You've
had bothers and troubles enough already since you got here. I ought to
have a nurse! Here I come to look after your interests, and see that
nothing goes wrong with you and your a