said: "Come, come! Let down your hammer! Uncoil!"

"Listen, you!" the other burst forth. "I beat that thing out. I'm
clean and I don't intend to go back. You're a strong guy and you
got a bunch of kale, and you're a getter, but the taller they come
the harder they fall. You can be had." The speaker was desperate;
his face was flushed with anger, the tone of his voice was defiant
and threatening.

Gray helped himself to a chair, crossed his legs, and lit a cigar.
McWade and Stoner neither moved nor spoke.

"My dear Mallow, you wrong me." In the newcomer's voice there was
no longer any mockery. "I gave you credit for more intelligence.
We played our little farce and it is done--the episode is closed,
so far as I am concerned. I supposed you understood that much. I
helped you and I came here to enlist your help."

"You helped _me_?" Mallow showed his teeth in a snarl.

"Precisely. Think a moment. Was it not odd that I failed to appear
against you? That the case was never pressed, the prosecution
dropped?"

"I s'pose you were afraid to go through. Thought I'd get you."

Gray shook his head impatiently. "Afraid? Of you? Oh, Mallow! Had
I feared your majestic wrath, do you think I would have arranged
for that doctor to see you every day? And paid his bill? Who,
pray, sent in those good things for you to eat?"