"He desires to remain unknown."
"Tell him for me, that I will give any price for it before it is published in the catalogue."
"I'm sorry, sir, but Mr. Hooker also came here to examine it. He wanted to buy it. He is a great expert, you know, and he always desired a letter of General Arnold's—about the treason. Mr. Sterling also wants it. He has a letter giving the amount Arnold received for betraying his country. It is said his letter is worth five thousand dollars. This is worth almost as much."
"I'll give him five thousand for this one."
"No, sir. You will have to wait until the sale."
Mr. Hooker sat at the club window. The feminine decorations of the Avenue did not interest him. He was thinking of poor DePuyster. Someone had just told him that DePuyster had remained indoors, not daring to show his face at the Club. He was at his apartments drinking Scotch whiskeys to take his mind away from the letter which haunted him. He could not bear to look into pedigrees and genealogies, which used to be his constant companions.
Hooker was actually sorry for the descendant of the stalwart Revolutionary hero, who dared not face his friends—much less his enemies. He would give the old man a tip! he said to himself. Anyhow it was delicious to have seen DePuyster's face when the accusation was made.
"DePuyster made me so nervous that I just had to do it. But I'll give him a hint. I'll write him, telling him perhaps the letter is a forgery. That will give him a chance. As a gentleman of honor, I shall write him. I should wish the proof, like his ancestors, to be "above suspicion!"
The letter was received by DePuyster, who becoming suddenly brave, faced the light of day, and made the astounding charge to the president of the auction-house that the Arnold (Gustavus) letter was nothing but a forgery! A rank imitation, a fabrication to blackmail a noble family distinguished for three hundred years in American History!
The president grew angry; the letter had been passed upon by well-known experts, as well as their own cataloguers of autographs; it was undoubtedly genuine, and would be sold as such.