“I do not.”

The Doctor drew it from his pocket as he spoke, and opened it. “I find here various entries, evidently sums of money owing to certain persons. I find here the entry ‘A. D. to R. C.—$5.’ Between these pages is a check on the First National Bank of New Orleans drawn by you in your own favor and endorsed on the back. Do you recollect such a check?”

Tony racked his memory, and recalled at last that a week or so before he had given Reggie such a check in payment of a small loan. “I made out such a check; yes, sir.”

“To whom did you pay it?”

“I decline to tell you, sir.”

“What did you pay it for?”

“In payment of the sum of five dollars which I had borrowed.”

“The boy to whom you paid this will corroborate your statement?”

“Possibly, sir—I don’t know. I certainly shan’t ask him to. I am accustomed to tell the truth.”

“You decline then to explain to me how this check came to be found in this memorandum-book in the strong-box of that shanty?”