"I don't claim all of it. I say divide it into two parts of one hundred pounds each. That will pay me, and much more than compensate you."
"I don't know so much about that," grunted the fat man. "I've done a deal of thinking over the case, I can tell you. And it was me who found out the murderer. So in justice I ought to have the whole two hundred pounds."
Gebb snatched up the cheque, and slipped it into his pocket. "If you talk like that you won't have a single penny!" he cried wrathfully, for he was disgusted with the avarice of his coadjutor. "In the goodness of her heart Miss Wedderburn considered that she should pay the reward out of the estate, and did so--to me; there was no word of you, Mr. Parge, when she signed this cheque."
"I dare say not," growled Simon, savagely, "that's gratitude, that is; yet if it hadn't been for me her father-in-law to be would have swung for a murder as he didn't commit."
"Don't you make any mistake about that, Simon," replied Gebb, dryly, "Mr. Dean could have proved his innocence without you in both cases. The confession of Miss Gilmar shows that she killed Kirkstone, and the evidence of the hotel-keeper of the Golden Hind proves that Dean slept there at the very hour of the murder. He would have been declared innocent even if you hadn't discovered the truth."
"Well, I did, anyhow," declared the other, sulkily.
"So did Mr. Basson, if you come to that."
"Rubbish!" cried Parge. "He only heard the confession of Alder."
"Well, and didn't that reveal the truth? As a matter of fact, in the face of that confession, Miss Wedderburn need not have paid the reward to any one. However, she thought that I deserved payment for all my work, so she gave me this money. It is only because you are a pal, and because I know you've helped in the matter, that I give you fifty pounds for yourself."
"Fifty pounds!" roared the fat man, growing purple with rage. "You said one hundred just now."