Thus it was with the unscrupulous overseer, William Bowen; so long as his employer had paid him for his silence he was content to suppress the guilty secret of the money which Silas had received from Philip Treverton, but on the first occasion of the attorney's refusing to supply him with funds, he was ready to turn round and betray him.
It was with this view that he had contrived to substitute a blank sheet of paper, and to preserve the actual receipt written and signed by Silas Craig.
The wealthy attorney, the pretended Christian, stood convicted a cheat and a swindler.
Augustus Horton turned indignantly from his old ally.
"Bear witness, Mr. Leslie, and you, Mortimer," he said, "that I did not know what this man was."
Silas Craig gnashed his teeth in silence; then crushing the paper in his hand, he rose from his chair and looked about him.
It was the look of a wild beast at bay; the look of a fox that knows the chase is over and the dogs are round him.
He sees their glaring eyes, he feels their hot and hungry breath, but he determines on concentrating the energy of his nature on one last effort.
"This receipt is a forgery!" he screamed, in a shrill and broken voice. "I deny its validity!"
"Take care, Silas Craig," said his old accomplice, "I calculate lying won't save you. You'd better speak the truth for once in a way, I reckon, and throw yourself upon the mercy of these gents."