ors of the
conscience. It was a _cras tibi_ which re-echoed in his soul, that two
whom he had known should have come to lie upon these icy tables. Yet
these were only secondary thoughts. His first concern regarded Wolfe.
Unprepared for a challenge so momentous, he knew not how to look his
comrade in the face. He durst not meet his eye, and he had neither words
nor voice at his command.

It was Macfarlane himself who made the first advance. He came up quietly
behind and laid his hand gently but firmly on the other's shoulder.

"Richardson," said he, "may have the head."

Now Richardson was a student who had long been anxious for that portion
of the human subject to dissect. There was no answer, and the murderer
resumed: "Talking of business, you must pay me; your accounts, you see,
must tally."

Fettes found a voice, the ghost of his own: "Pay you!" he cried. "Pay
you for that?"

"Why, yes, of course you must. By all means and on every possible
account, you must," returned the other. "I dare not give it for nothing,
you dare not take it for nothing; it would compromise us both. This is
another case like Jane Galbraith's. The more things are wrong the more
we must act as if all were right. Where does old K---- keep his money?"

"There," answered Fettes hoarsely, pointing to a cupboard in the corner.

"Give me the key, then," said the other calmly, holding out his hand.

There was an instant's hesitation, and the die was cast. Macfarlane
could not suppress a nervous twitch, the infinitesimal mark of an
immense relief, as he felt the key between his fingers. He opened the
cupboard, brought out pen and ink and a paper-book that stood in one
compartment, and separated from the funds in a drawer a sum suitable to
the occasion.

"Now, look here," he said, "there is the payment made--first proof of
your good faith: first step to your security. You have now to clinch it
by a second. Enter the payment in your book, and then you for your part
may defy the devil."

The next few seconds were for Fettes an agony of thought; but in
balancing his terrors it was the most immediate that triumphed. Any
future difficulty seemed almost welcome if he could avoid a present
quarrel with Macfarlane. He set down the candle which he had been
carrying all this time, and with a steady hand entered the date, the
nature, and the amount of the transaction.

"And now," said Macfarlane, "it's only fair that you should pocket the
lucre. I've