"That's the right color," said Margrave, snatching the paper as Wheaton sprang forward to regain it.
"Not that! not that! That isn't mine!"
Margrave stepped back and swept the face of the certificate with his eyes.
"Well, this does beat hell! I knew you stood next, Jim," he said insolently, "but I didn't know that you were on such confidential terms as all this. And you witnessed the signature. Gosh! How sweet and pretty it all is!" The paper exhaled the faint odor of sachet, and Margrave lifted it to his nostrils with a mockery of delight.
"I must have that, Margrave. I will do anything, but I must have that—— You wouldn't——"
Margrave watched him maliciously, thoroughly enjoying his terror.
"How do you know I wouldn't? Give me the other one, Jim."
Still Wheaton held his own certificate; he believed for a moment that he could trade the one for the other.
"I'm not going to fool with you much longer, Jim; you either give me that certificate or I go to the Gazette office as straight as I can walk. Just sign it in blank, the way the other one is. I'll witness it all right."