Gerald was not altogether surprised by what his visitor said. When Standish disclaimed any wish to secure his money, he began to suspect, remembering the confidential meeting with Bradley Wentworth, that it was the papers that were wanted. Desiring to learn what he could of Wentworth’s agency in the matter, he said non-committally, “To what papers do you refer?”

“You know well enough,” answered Standish, winking.

“Perhaps I do. Are you employed by Mr. Wentworth?”

“Who is Mr. Wentworth?”

“The gentleman who saved you from being thrown overboard on the steamer.”

“Have you any papers of his?”

“No; but I have some papers that he wants to get possession of.”

“He told me they belonged to him.”

“Then you are his agent?”

“I may as well admit it. Now what have you got to say?”

“That the papers are mine.”

“Then why does Mr. Wentworth want them?”

This inquiry was made in good faith, for Standish had not been taken into confidence by his employer, and he was puzzled to understand why it was that the papers were considered of such importance.

“Because he owes me, as my father’s representative, a large sum of money, and these papers are very important evidence to that effect.”

“How much did you say that he owes you?” asked Standish in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I didn’t say,” returned Gerald.

“Oh, I beg pardon. I did not suppose it was a secret.”

“I don’t mind telling you that Mr. Wentworth has repeatedly offered me a thousand dollars for the papers.”

“You don’t say so!” ejaculated Standish; “and he only offered me two hundred dollars for them,” he soliliquized. “The boy has given me a valuable hint, which I shall make use of. When the papers are in my possession it will go hard with me if I don’t get more than two hundred dollars for them.”

His only fear was that Gerald would refuse to deliver them to him, and hold them for the large sum promised by Mr. Wentworth.

“You have no further dealings with Mr. Wentworth,” he said hastily. “You must deal with me. But, first, have you the papers with you? You had better answer truly, for if you deny it I shall search you.”

“I have them with me,” answered Gerald briefly.

“Come, we are getting on,” said Standish, delighted to hear this. “Now you will save yourself trouble by handing them over at once.”

“How much are you authorized to give me for them?” asked Gerald demurely.

“Your freedom. Give them to me and you shall be released at the end of an hour.”

“Why not at once?”

“Because you might be tempted to hand me over to the police, though you could not prove anything against me. Still it might be inconvenient.”

“Do you expect me to give you without compensation what I have been offered a thousand dollars for?”

“Yes, under the circumstances.”

“Suppose I refuse to give them up?”

“Then you will be imprisoned here for an indefinite period.”

“I don’t believe it. I would raise an alarm, and some one would be sure to hear it and interfere in my behalf.”

“I am glad you have put me on my guard. Nothing will be easier than for me to charge you with insanity and have you committed to an asylum.”

Gerald shuddered at this threat, though he had made up his mind to secure his release by surrendering the duplicate papers in his pocket. The real documents were in the custody of a safe deposit company in the city, having been placed with them only the day previous.

“Won’t you give me something for them?” he asked. “I don’t like to give them up without any return.”

“I may be able to secure a hundred dollars, but I won’t promise. I don’t see why you don’t accept Mr. Wentworth’s offer. How long since was it made?”

“It was made for the last time on the steamer Rock Island.”

“You won’t tell me how large a sum Mr. Wentworth owes you?”

“I may as well tell you, as the papers would inform you. It is twenty thousand dollars!”

“Twenty thousand dollars!” ejaculated Standish thoroughly amazed. “How is it possible that he should owe so much?”

“I can only tell you that it is a debt of honor.”

“Do you mean by that that it is a gambling debt?”

“No,” answered Gerald indignantly. “My father never gambled in his life.”

“Aha!” thought Standish, “it is well that I have wormed the truth out of this boy. Wentworth actually wants to pay me the pitiful sum of two hundred dollars for evidence that will save him twenty thousand. It won’t go down, Mr. Wentworth! it won’t go down!

“Give me the papers,” he said aloud, “and I will do what I can for you. I feel a sympathy for you, my dear young friend, but I must of course consult the interests of my employer.”

“Meaning Mr. Wentworth?”

“Yes; you will of course conjecture that I am acting as his agent.”

“I thought so,” returned Gerald. “I didn’t think the man was so unscrupulous.”

“Perhaps it would inconvenience, or ruin him to pay so large a sum as twenty thousand dollars,” suggested Standish.

“Not at all. He is worth, I have reason to believe, over three hundred thousand dollars.”

“Is it possible?” said Standish, his eyes sparkling. “Then he is a very rich man. Where did he get his money?”

“It was left him by his uncle. But for my father he would have been disinherited.”

“That is why you call it a debt of honor?”

“Yes.”

“He hasn’t done the fair thing, I must confess. Let anybody secure me an inheritance of three hundred thousand dollars, and I won’t haggle about paying a twenty thousand dollar fee.”

“I am sorry Mr. Wentworth’s sentiments are not as liberal as yours.”

“Exactly so. I would have treated your father a great deal better. Mr. Wentworth is evidently a mean man. Still he is my employer and I must do what I can for him. Still my sympathies are with you.”

“You have played me a mean trick, Mr. Standish.”

“I admit it, but it isn’t my fault. My poverty, and not my will, consents. However, we are losing time. Will you do me the favor of handing me the papers?”

“Do you insist upon it?” asked Gerald in apparent mortification.

“I must, for reasons which you understand,” said Standish, extending his hand for the expected papers.

Gerald unbuttoned his vest, and from an inner pocket drew out the duplicate documents, or rather the copies of the original papers.

Standish took the two letters and ran his eye over them eagerly.

“I am not surprised that Mr. Wentworth wanted these letters,” he said. “They are a confession in so many words that he committed forgery, and hired your father to bear the blame, in consideration of a large sum which he promised to pay when all danger was over and the estate was his.”

“You have stated the matter clearly, Mr. Standish.”

“Your father was badly used.”

“His life was ruined,” said Gerald bitterly, “his life and his prospects, for his employer. Mr. Wentworth’s uncle intended to give him an interest in the business. As it was he died with the conviction that my father was a forger.”

“It’s too bad, it is upon my honor.”

“Then you will return me the papers?”

“I couldn’t do that. I am a poor man, and the money that Wentworth is to give me is of great importance to me. If you could raise five or six hundred dollars, I might afford to return them to you.”

“That will be quite impossible, Mr. Standish.”

“Then I am afraid I must retain the papers. It goes to my heart to do it, I assure you. I am a very tender-hearted man, Gerald, but I am a poor man, and I feel that I must not injure my own interests. I will do what I can for you, however, and I may be able to persuade Mr. Wentworth to give you something. Now I must bid you good morning.”

Samuel Standish opened the door, and prepared to go out.

“In an hour you will be released,” he said. “I shall leave directions with Tip.”

As he went downstairs, Gerald settled back in his chair, trying to resign himself to remaining for another hour in the shabby room.