"Don't be afraid. You mean that my wife…"
"Yes … just that!"
Fred Starratt had a sense that he should have been stirred to anger, but instead a great pity swept him, pity for a human being who could sell another so shamelessly and not have the grace to deny it. Yes, he realized now that there were times when a lie was the most self-respecting and admirable thing in the world.
"It appears that I am dead also. I saw my wife to-day mourning for me in the most respectable of weeds."
"Your hat, you see—it was found in the water … not far from the dead body of your friend… Naturally…"
"Yes, naturally, the wish was father to the thought. Just so!"
And with that Fred Starratt laughed so unpleasantly that Brauer shivered and his face reddened.
By this time Fred Starratt had finished eating. Brauer paid the check and the two departed. At the first street corner Brauer attempted to slip a five-dollar bill into Starratt's hand. He refused scornfully.
"Money? I don't want your money. There is only one thing that will buy my good will—your silence. Do you understand what I mean? … I'm not the same man you tricked last July. Then I thought I had everything to lose. Now I know that no one ever loses anything… You don't understand me, do you? … Oh, well, it doesn't matter."
Brauer's frightened lips scarcely moved as he asked: