"Everything," answered Fitzgerald, laconically.
"To any one else?"
"Yes, to a lawyer, who is possessed of all the evidence in the case, and is prepared to communicate all to your uncle!"
"Is this true?" asked Hugo, pale with dismay.
"You can believe it or not. I have only this to say, that you had better go with me to the hotel where your cousin and his lawyer are now staying, and assure yourself whether we are in earnest."
"Suppose I grant your demands and acknowledge the boy?"
"Then you will be suffered to go where you please unharmed."
"I will go with you."
Hugo accompanied Fitzgerald to the hotel, had a private interview with the lawyer, and decided that opposition was useless. He took care, however, to feather his own nest by appropriating a large amount of government bonds belonging to his uncle, which, in addition to his pickings and stealings for eight years past, provided him with a competency. The theft could not be proved, for he alone had the charge of his uncle's affairs. With his ill-gotten gains he sailed for Europe, where he is now residing.