Page:The Millbank Case - 1905 - Eldridge.djvu/248

 *fiantly, "is worth so much that I can afford to take some risks. If you want it, you can have it for a price. If not, the highest bidder gets it, and in a State where ex-Governor Matthewson's got as many enemies as he's got in Maine, there won't be any trouble about finding buyers."

"There's no need to drag in my father's name," Matthewson replied.

"How do you know there ain't?" the other demanded. "Maybe you'll be surprised at the names that are dragged in before we're through."

It was Matthewson's impulse to throw the man out of doors, without regard to consequences; but before him came a face that had watched him lovingly and tenderly from his earliest memory—a face that he had seen only a few days before pleading to him, as he had never dreamed a woman's face could plead. His hands clutched nervously; but for the sake of that face and that love, he held himself in restraint.

"Well, to end this matter," he said, "what do you want for this precious information?"

"Hadn't you better know first what it is?" de