158 TRUE RICHES; OR,

 

“Have you seen Martin?” he asked the moment
he entered the office.

‘Martin! Surely he is notin the city:
Grind evasively.

‘He surely is,’”’ said Jasper, fretfully.

‘Martin. Where in the world did he come from?
I thought him somewhere in the neighbourhood of
the Rocky Mountains. What does he want?”

‘No good, of course.”

“That may be said safely. Have youseen him?”

‘¢'Yes.”

‘When? This morning ?”

‘No; he called at my house last night.”

“ Called last night! What did he want?”

‘Ten thousand dollars,” replied Jasper.

“Ten thousand dollars!!" The lawyer’s well-
feigned surprise completed the deception practised
upon Jasper. He did not, for an instant, suspect
collusion between him and Martin.

“Yes; he very coolly proposed that I should
lend him that sum, # enable him to carry on some
lead-mining operatiohs in the west.”

‘¢ Preposterous !””

“So I told him.”

“Well, what did he say ?”

‘Oh, he blustered, and made covert threats of ex-
posure, of course.”’

“©The scoundrel !”’ said Grind, fiercely.

“ He’s a villain double-dyed. I have never ceased
to regret that we brought him into this business.
We should have had a man of better spirit—of a
nicer sense of honour.”

“Yes, Mr. Jasper, that is true enough,” replied

9?

returned