"Cal, you and I have been friends since boyhood. I'm going to ask my first favour of you to-night."
"For yourself, all right; you've got the answer before you ask it."
"We can't separate our lives from our friends, and I owe much in mine to the man for whom I'm going to speak."
"If you've come to ask me to settle with old Woodman for any imaginary claim he has, you're wasting your breath. I won't hear it. So cut it!"
Bivens spoke with quick fierce energy. His words fell sharp and metallic.
"I'm not asking you to settle any old imaginary claim," the young lawyer went on rapidly, "but a new one that can only appeal to the best that's in you."
"A new one?" Bivens cried in surprise.
"Yes. I needn't recall what passed between you and the doctor the night of the ball."
"No, I've quite a clear recollection of it," Bivens answered grimly.
"Let it be enough to say that the torture you inflicted and the sights he saw in your house drove him insane. Hungry, wretched, in despair over his misfortunes and the promise he had given his daughter, whom he loved better than life, in a moment of madness he took a case of your jewels."