LORENZO BRAYTON was in excellent spirits the following morning as he began going through his mail, his stenographer sitting beside him with pencil and notebook ready. Among the letters was one with a Newark postmark, and in the upper corner the business card of a certain Martin Cogblen, with whom Brayton had had shady dealings several times before. Cogblen was a man supposedly of sterling character, and so far as his own office was concerned he was all of that. He was honesty itself in small deals that served to gain him a reputation, but he indulged in side lines now and then.
Cogblen was the sort of man who “steered” a good thing in the direction of Lorenzo Brayton and then sat back and reaped a small portion of the reward. The association was remunerative to Brayton, for Cogblen picked
