206 TRUE RICHES; OR,

 

not?” said Martin as coldly and contemptuously as

before. ‘But you were mistaken. I have not

been altogether willing to trust myself in your

hands, without good advice from a limb of the law
uite as shrewd as yourself.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Grind, some-
what startled by so unexpected a declaration.

“Plainly,”’ was answered, “ while I took your ad-
vice as to the surest way to act upon Jasper, I con-
sulted another as to the means of protecting myself
from you, if matters ever came to a pinch.”

“Qh! Preposterous!” Grind forced a laugh.
“'That’s only an afterthought.”

“Js it. Hark!’ Martin bent close to his ear,
and uttered a few words in an undertone. Grind
started as if stung by a serpent.

“¢Wretch !”’

‘‘Tt is useless to call ill names, my friend. Ihave
you in my power; and I mean to keep you there.
But I shall not be very hardon you. 58o, don’t look
so awfully cut down.”

For once the scheming, unscrupulous lawyer found
himself outwitted. His tool had proved too sharp
for him. Without a doubt he was in his power to an
extent by no means agreeable to contemplate. Grind
now saw that conciliation was far better than anta-
gonism.

When Martin retired from the lawyer's office, he
had in his pocket a check for two hundred dollars,
while behind him was left his solemn pledge to leave
the city for New Orleans the next day. The pledge,
when given, he did not intend to keep; and it was
not kept, as Grind soon afterward learned, to his