Adventure, December 1914 — page 129: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Man With Nine Lives “T wonder how many people you have been treating as you have Miss Dennis— trying to get money out of them by means of threats, on the strength of documents which you have stolen.” Mr. Daniel, who was a little, thin man, just over five feet in height, made a sudden vicious dash at Adair who brushed him aside with so much vigor that he went top- pling to the floor. “Sorry if I’ve hurt you, Daniel; but if I have to drop you from the window it will hurt still more. Quite two-thirds of these papers are my property—you pretty rogues!” Although his language was strong, Mr. Adair’s manner was still urbane. He con- tinued to examine the contents of the drawer, which he had now taken out of the table, with a thoroughness which at last brought at least Mr. Issachar to realize how much the visitor was in earnest. ‘“‘Look here, Mr. Adair, I’ll make a clean breast of it. We have got some of Mr. Creed’s papers; so there!” “T can see you have. What you don’t seem to realize is that they are mine.” ‘“We did a lot of work for Mr. Creed, and we always gave him satisfaction. He was our chief client. When he died in—in that unexpected way, he rather left us stranded. We were handling a lot of things for him at the very time; he did owe us a good deal of money—I can show you the accounts. “There was no one in Mitre Court to represent him; no one knew who was the heir, or what was to become of the business and property—no one knew anything. So we just went on, Daniel and I, very much as we had been in the habit of doing— representing his interests, dealing with mat- ters just as he would have instructed us to do if he had been still alive. Then you come along—the heir to everything—and you kick us out. ‘“‘We were doing no harm; we were just doing what Creed himself would have done, and we were hurt by your treatment of us. There was no staff in Mitre Court, so we had some of the papers brought here for con- venience in dealing with them. If you had approached us properly, we should have laid everything before you. “But you didn’t! From one or two words you let drop, and from one or two things which had got about, we gathered that you 127 meant to let Mr. Creed’s busitiess go to pot, and not trouble about any of the people who owed him money. Under the circum- stances, considering what he owed us, I don’t think we’re much to blame for having looked after ourselves. “And that’s the whole truth—and now you've got it. Youcan have the papers that belong to the estate—we never said you couldn’t; and we’ll render you an account of what Mr. Creed owed us and perhaps you'll see it settled.” » “Mr. Foster will see that everything is settled which is owing. As you say, you do seem to have a few papers of mine. I’m be- ginning to wonder if there’s anything in the room which isn’t mine.”’ Mr. Daniel had got up from the floor and was rubbing his elbow. “Tell Mr. Adair, Issachar, that we’ll make him an offer for Creed’s business—a fair offer, based upon a proper valuation.” “Does that mean, Daniel, that you’d carry the business on if you had the chance?” “Certainly, if you’d let us have it at a fair price. It is not a bad business, and one which we could handle nicely.”’ “I dare say; but you won’t have the chance. Jerningham Creed was probably as great a thief as you are, possibly even greater—he made more money. I’ve not yet made up my mind what I am going to do with his ill-gotten gains, which, for some inscrutable reason, he passed on to me; but on this I am resolved—that his usurious business shall cease. All his present debtors shall be forgiven their debts Mr. Daniel could restrain himself no longer; he had to interrupt. ‘“‘“Good heavens, Issachar! Did you ever hear anything like that? All his present debtors shall be forgiven their debts! Did you ever hear anything like it?” ‘Never, Daniel,” replied Issachar. Martin Adair quietly continued: “Investigations shall be set on foot into the affairs of those who have been his debtors, and those who have suffered wrong at his hands shall to the best of my ability have their wrongs redressed. ‘That being the case, you'll easily understand that the business is not for sale, and that I am un- able to accept even the fairest offer you can make. I’ll have nothing to do with usury, or with the fruits of usury, if I can help it; that’s a solid and a simple fact.” MICLOOOLK C©