"It was Mr. Warburton."
"Was it civil?"
"Yes, it was. If it had been uncivil I should have sent it back. I'm not the man to take impudence even from a duke."
"If you'll give me those two letters, Lopez, I'll stick to you through thick and thin. By heavens I will! Think what the 'People's Banner' is. You may come to want that kind of thing some of these days." Lopez remained silent, looking into the other man's eager face. "I shouldn't publish them, you know; but it would be so much to me to have the evidence in my hands. You might do worse, you know, than make a friend of me."
"You won't publish them?"
"Certainly not. I shall only refer to them."
Then Lopez pulled a bundle of papers out of his pocket. "There they are," he said.
"Well," said Slide, when he had read them; "it is one of the rummest transactions I ever 'eard of. Why did 'e send the money? That's what I want to know. As far as the claim goes, you 'adn't a leg to stand on."
"Not legally."
"You 'adn't a leg to stand on any way. But that doesn't much matter. He sent the money, and the sending of the money was corrupt. Who shall I get to ask the question? I suppose young Fletcher wouldn't do it?"