The Mystery Megapack

me as I passed through the gates.
    “Go to the devil!” I said. “And get him to shut your infernal mouth with a red-hot brick.”
    And with that I boarded a streetcar and went rather thoughtfully uptown.
    * * * *
    August 19. Later still
    As it chances, I have invited the men to dinner again—both of them; for I’m not the kind of man who likes taking a fall too quietly. This is what I wrote, addressing it to Wentock at the office:
    *
    Dear Mr. Wentock,
    I have been thinking things over a bit, and have come to the conclusion that everything was not said at our last meeting that might have been said. I bear no malice at all for the somewhat pungent wit you handed out to me. I guess I was in the position that invited a few jabs.
    I have been thinking that perhaps there is still a way to arrange this affair a little more to my liking, and I can assure you and your friend that you will be the gainers, and without having your strict feelings for high honesty and fairness outraged.
    Will you both meet me at our little restaurant tonight at the usual time, and I will go thoroughly into the matter; for as I start off tomorrow, it is imperative to me to carry through my plan before I sail.
    Remember, I bear no malice at all. Look upon this as an entirely businesslike and reasonable friendly little invite.
    Yours sincerely,
    G. GAULT
    *
    I sent this by messenger, and tonight I shall be at the restaurant.
    August 20
    They both came to time. Wentock as cheerful and unscrupulous as ever. Ewiss, looking awkward, and as if he would rather have stopped away.
    “Now,” I said as we sat down, “pleasure first and business afterwards.” And I reached for the hock.
    “One moment, sir,” said Ewiss, suddenly, and pushed forward a small roll of paper, which I took from him, feeling a little puzzled. It contained dollar notes to the approximate value of five pounds.
    I looked across at Ewiss with sudden gladness and respect in my heart, for I understood. But what I said was: “What are these, Mr. Ewiss?”
    “It’s your brass, Cap’n,” he said. “I’ve thought a deal lately, an’ I reckon I can’t hold onto it. I’m not grumbling at Mr. Wentock’s way of looking at it. Lots of our men look at it that way; but even if you’d no right to try to bribe me, that doesn’t say as I’m right to take your brass, an’ mean to sell you all the time. If I’m above the job you wanted me to do, I feel I ought to be above taking the brass for it, too. So take it back, sir; an’ after that I shall enjoy my dinner with you as well as anyone.”
    I looked across at Wentock.
    “And you?” I asked.
    “Well,” he said, grinning in his cheerful fashion, I don’t see it that way, Cap’n. Ewiss, here, always was a bit funny on that point. Sometimes I’ve screwed him up to our general way of looking at it; but, in the main, he’s not built on those lines, and I don’t grumble at him any more than he don’t grumble at me. I look at it this way. You, or any man as insults me by tryin’ to buy me, has got to pay for it.”
    “Good man, Wentock,” I said. “It takes a deal of different opinions to oil the different kinds of consciences. I’ve a brand of my own, and you’ve a brand of your own, and Mr. Ewiss, there, has his. Anyway, you’re welcome to the cash, Mr. Wentock. As for you, Mr. Ewiss, I see you can’t take yours; so I’ll have it back, and I apologize to you. I think your way is the soundest of the three of us. Now, forgetting all this, let’s drop the serious for a time, and we’ll have our dinner.”
    It was over the wine that I explained to Wentock the things I had to explain. Ewiss was out of it, though he listened quietly, with the deepest interest, and a flash of a smile now and again that showed he had a sense of humor.
    “You see, Wentock,” I said, “I never meant to bribe either of you, but only to make you think that I did. No man in his senses would risk £6000—to be exact £5997—I glanced at Ewiss and smiled; for I had guessed who was my “wellwisher”—“on a piffly little bribe like a couple of fivers. If I had seriously meant to buy you, I should have offered something nearer your price, say fifty or a hundred pounds. As it was, I wanted merely, by means of my trifling bribes, to make you think I was going to run the stuff through in the way I explained so carefully. In other words, I wished to focus your entire suspicions upon Number 2 bag, thereby insuring that the Number 1 bag,