Sterzer, instead of Robinson, I cal'lated
he was loony, sure enough. But Peter T. slapped his leg.

"'Oh!' he says, as if he'd seen a light all to once. 'Ah, NOW I begin
to get wise. I knew your face was--See here, Mr. Sterzer--Mr. Gabriel
Sterzer--don't you think we'd better have a real, plain talk on this
matter? Let's get down to tacks. Was the paper you lost something to do
with the Sterzer-Gordon lawsuit? The Aluminum Trust case, you know?'

"The old man stopped dancin', stared at him hard, and then set down and
wiped his forehead.

"'Something to DO with it?' he groans. 'Why, you idiot, it was IT!
If Gordon's lawyers get that paper--and they've been after it for a
year--then the fat's all in the fire. There's nothin' left for me to do
but compromise.'

"When Peter T. mentioned the name of Gabriel Sterzer, me and Jonadab
begun to see a light, too. 'Course you remember the bust-up of the
Aluminum Trust--everybody does. The papers was full of it. There'd
been a row among the two leadin' stockholders, Gabe Sterzer and 'Major'
Gordon. Them two double-back-action millionaires practically owned the
trust, and the state 'twas in, and the politics of that state, and all
the politicians. Each of 'em run three or four banks of their own, and
a couple of newspapers, and other things, till you couldn't rest. Then
they had the row, and Gabe had took his playthings and gone home, as
you might say. Among the playthings was a majority of the stock, and the
Major had sued for it. The suit, with pictures of the leadin'
characters and the lawyers and all, had been spread-eagled in the papers
everywheres. No wonder 'Robinson's' face was familiar.

"But it seemed that Sterzer had held the trump card in the shape of the
original agreement between him and Gordon. And he hung on to it like
the Old Scratch to a fiddler. Gordon and his crowd had done everything,
short of murder, to get it; hired folks to steal it, and so on, because,
once they DID get it, Gabe hadn't a leg to stand on--he'd have to divide
equal, which wa'n't his desires, by a good sight. The Sterzer lawyers
had wanted him to leave it in their charge, but no--he knew too much for
that. The pig-headed old fool had carted it with him wherever he went,
and him and his daughter had come to the Old Home House because he
figgered nobody would think of their bein' in such an out-of-the-way
place as that. But they HAD thought of it. Anyhow, the paper was gone.

"'But Mr. Robi