"That is my name—now."
"You have been in my employment—for five years?"
"Yes. Judge Gilkins gave me the chance. I could not suppose that the club would ever become your property."
The younger man's face hardened. "But when it did become my property, why had you the indecency to stay?"
"Where else could I go?"
"You had the whole world to—operate in."
Herold's thin face flushed. "It was
fitter that I should work for you," he said. "I have served you faithfully for five years."
"And unfaithfully for ten! Wasn't it enough that Vyse and I let you go without prosecuting you? Wasn't it enough that we pocketed our loss for your wife's sake?"
He checked himself in a flash of memory, turned, and looked at the picture on the wall. Now he knew, now he understood why his former associate's handwriting had seemed familiar after all these years.