“No; a thousand times no!”
“I believe you, Gerald,” said the Englishman promptly.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MR. STANDISH RECEIVES A COMMISSION.
“Thank you for your confidence, Mr. Brooke,” said Gerald, “but I prefer that you should have proofs of what I say.”
“It is not necessary, Gerald.”
“But I prefer that you should look over some papers that I have with me, and for which, by the way, Mr. Wentworth is ready at any time to pay me a thousand dollars.”
“But why should he be willing to pay so much?” asked the Englishman in surprise.
“Because they prove that he, and not my father, committed the forgery. My father agreed to have it charged upon him at Mr. Wentworth’s urgent request, in order that Wentworth might not be disinherited by his uncle.”