Page:The Millbank Case - 1905 - Eldridge.djvu/119

 "I think also," he said; "we should put another detective to work. I can't see any harm if Trafford is on the square, and it may do a lot of good if he isn't."

"It's against all principle to put a case into two men's hands," McManus objected. "We certainly ought to dismiss the one before we hire a second."

"We haven't hired the first yet," Hunter answered roughly. "We can't object to Mrs. Parlin employing a detective, if she wants to; but she as certainly can't object to our doing the same thing. If, however, we put a man to work, let him keep his hands off that statement of Judge Parlin's."

McManus started.

"You think it genuine?"

Hunter looked as if the question tired him. He was a tall dark man, with an unusually expressive face, and was not accustomed to concealing his feelings.

"That's more of your horse-play. Whether the paper's genuine or not can't have any bearing on the murder. It isn't to be imagined, if it's a forgery, that there was a purpose to make it public after the