Page:Richard Marsh--The goddess a demon.djvu/189

Rh purporting to have been drawn by Philip Lawrence, and to have been endorsed by his brother Edwin. I let him get up.

"I hope I have put you to no inconvenience. Since you left the bills in your office safe, under lock and key, no doubt you will find them, still under lock and key, on your return."

"Give me back those bills!"

"They will be quite safe with me."

I put them into my coat pocket. He turned to the Morleys.

"I call you to witness that the man has robbed me, with violence! Mind, with violence!" Then to me: "You give me back those bills, this moment, or it will be a case of penal servitude for you; and I shouldn't be surprised if there were the cat thrown in."

"And what will it be for you? Judges and juries are not apt to look with lenient eyes upon gentlemen who habitually traffic in forged acceptances for the purposes of levying blackmail."

"Don't talk to me like that; I tell you that I won't have it!"

"You won't have it!"

"Upon my word, I don't know who you are, but I believe you're a highwayman. Give me back those bills, or I go to the front door, and I call a constable."