"You remember our agreement?"
"I don't want assistance; I want relief."
"Whatever the distinction in the words, I understand that you are asking a favor?"
"I don't consider it so."
"Very well. Proceed."
"When you sent me out three years ago to make a fortune for Mildred, it was understood that there should be fair play on both sides—"
"Have you played fair?" quickly interposed the old man.
"I have. When I came to Chicago, I had no idea that you were interested in the Pacific Coast fisheries, I had raised the money before I discovered that you even knew Willis Marsh. Then it was too late to retreat. When I reached Seattle, all sorts of unexpected obstacles came up. I lost the ship I had chartered; machinery houses refused deliveries; shipments went astray; my bank finally refused its loan, and every other bank in the Northwest followed suit. I was harassed in every possible way. And it wasn't chance that caused it; it was Willis Marsh. He set spies upon me, he incited a dock strike that resulted in a riot and the death of at least one man; moreover, he tried to have me killed."
"How do you know he did that?"
"I have no legal proof, but I know it just the same."