"Seven thousand five hundred!" chattered Alfred. "Not another cent, or I shall do it myself."
"Good! You do it!" Roly exclaimed; whereat the tempter writhed and shivered in an ague of fear. With a wail that came like a sob and with a final wrench of his miserly soul, he exclaimed:
"Wait, then! I will pay you ten thousand dollars if you kill him. The money is there. It will bankrupt me; but—God above! Ten thousand dollars! It is scarcely worth it—such a little job!"
"How do I know you'd make good?" inquired the young man. "You robbed him. You might rob me."
"I have promised! It is there—in the safe. The moment he is dead—"
"Bah!" Mr. Van Dam managed a mocking laugh, although his heart was pounding. "Your word is worth nothing to me."
Alfred made answer by slipping across the room and kneeling before the steel safe. He spun the knob swiftly to right and to left, then gave a wrench, and the massive door opened.
"Come here!"
Van Dam obeyed.
"Look!"