"What! what!" shouted the magnate, almost choking with rage and mortification at this unvarnished arraignment, "you dare to tell me this? In my own house!"
"You invited me here," suggested Ralph.
"Get out--get out!" cried Farrington, running to the door for his cane.
"You will fail," spoke Ralph, going down the steps. "You won't gag me as you have others. As you did----"
Like an inspiration a suggestion came to Ralph Fairbanks' mind at that moment.
It seemed as if he had right before his eyes once more the mysterious, blurred letter that Van had brought. He recalled one of its last words. He had mistaken it for "Farewell." Now the light flashed in upon his soul. "Farwell" was the name Big Denny had spoken--"Farwell Gibson."
"As you did Farwell Gibson," concluded Ralph, at a venture.
"Who? Come back! Stay, Fairbanks, one word!"
The old man's face had grown white. His eyes seemed suddenly haunted with dread.
"That name!" he gasped, clutching at a chair for support. "What do you know of Farwell Gibson?"