"But the bank,—the principle of the thing!" exclaimed the detective with indignation.
I smiled.
"Exactly! The principle of the thing has been perfectly carried out. A man who has too much money creates forgers and thieves about him,—he cannot expect tomeetwith honesty. Let the bank prosecute if it likes,—I shall not. Iam free !— free to work for my living. What I earn I shall enjoy,—what I inherited I have learnt to loathe!"
With that I left him, puzzled and irate,—and in a day or two the papers were full of strange stories concerning me, and numerous lies as well. I was called 'mad,' 'unprincipled,' 'thwarting the ends of justice,'—and sundry other names, while scurrilous civilities known only to the penny paragraphist were heaped upon me by the score. To complete my entire satisfactio
