Denton was enraged at the boy's coolness, but he dissembled the feeling.

"Oh, well," he said carelessly, "do as you please. Now, I've got a proposal to make to you."

"Go ahead."

"I'm very hard up, and I want money."

"So I supposed."

"The man you're with has plenty of it."

"How do you know?"

"Confound you, why do you interrupt me? You know it as well as I. Now, I want some of that money."

"That is what you came in for."

"Yes, that is what I came in for. Now, I'll tell you what I will do. I will take the money out of the pocketbook, and give you half, if you won't interfere. You can tell the old man that a burglar took the whole, and he'll believe you fast enough. So you see you will profit by it as well as I."