Pickering looked impatiently from one to the other

of us.

"You seem to have the guns, the ammunition and the

numbers on your side," he observed dryly.

"The sheriff may wait within call," said Larry, and

at a word from Pickering the man left the room.

"Now, Mr. Pickering,"-Larry spoke slowly,-"as

my friend has explained the case to me, the assets of

his grandfather's estate are all accounted for,-the land

hereabouts, this house, the ten thousand dollars in securities

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and a somewhat vague claim against a lady

known as Sister Theresa, who conducts St. Agatha's

School. Is that correct?"

"I don't ask you to take my word for it, sir," rejoined

Pickering hotly. "I have filed an inventory of the

estate, so far as found, with the proper authorities."

"Certainly. But I merely wish to be sure of my facts

for the purpose of this interview, to save me the trouble

of going to the records. And, moreover, I am somewhat

unfamiliar with your procedure in this country. I am

a member, sir, of the Irish Bar. Pardon me, but I repeat

my question."

"I have made oath-that, I trust, is sufficient even

for a member of the Irish Bar."

"Quite so, Mr. Pickering," said Larry, nodding his

head gravely.

He was not, to be sure, a presentable member of any

bar, for a smudge detracted considerably from the appearance

of one side of his face, his clothes were rumpled

and covered with black dust, and his hands were

black. But I had rarely seen him so calm. He recrossed

his legs, peered into the bowl of his pipe for a moment,

then asked, as quietly as though he were soliciting an

opinion of the weather: "Will you tell me, Mr. Pickering, whether you yourself

are a debtor of John Marshall Glenarm's estate?"

Pickering's face grew white and his eyes stared, and

when he tried suddenly to speak his jaw twitched. The

room was so still that the breaking of a blazing log on

the andirons was a pleasant relief. We stood, the three

of us, with our eyes on Pickering, and in my own case

I must say that my heart was pounding my ribs at an

uncomfortable speed, for I knew Larry was not sparring

for time.

The blood rushed into Pickering's face and he turned

toward Larry stormily.

"This is unwarrantable and infamous! My relations

with Mr. Glenarm are none of your business. When

you remember that after being deserted by his own flesh

and blood he appealed to me, going so far as to intrust

all his affairs to my care at his death, your reflection

is an outrageous insult. I am not accountable to you

or any one else!"

"Really, there's a good deal in all that," said Larry.

"We don't pretend to any judicial functions. We are

perfectly willing to submit the whole business and all

my client's acts to the authorities."




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