ERICSON stares at him.
STRANGER. Are you looking at my scarf-pin? I bought it in London.
ERICSON. I am no thief!
STRANGER. No, but you practise the noble art of erasure. You wipe out!
ERICSON. That's true, but that contract was sheer robbery, and it was strangling me.
STRANGER. Why did you sign it?
ERICSON. Because I was hard up.
STRANGER. Yes, that is a motive.
ERICSON. But now I am having my revenge.
STRANGER. Yes, isn't it nice!