stranger asked for and got five cheques on a metropolitan bank--drawn to

Bearer,"--four for $1,500 each, and one for $34,000. He put one of the

former in his pocket-book, and the remainder, representing $38,500, he

put in an envelope, and with these he added a note which he wrote after

Harkness was gone. At eleven he called at the Richards' house and

knocked. Mrs. Richards peeped through the shutters, then went and

received the envelope, and the stranger disappeared without a word. She

came back flushed and a little unsteady on her legs, and gasped out:

I am sure I recognised him! Last night it seemed to me that maybe I had

seen him somewhere before."

He is the man that brought the sack here?"

I am almost sure of it."

Then he is the ostensible Stephenson too, and sold every important

citizen in this town with his bogus secret. Now if he has sent cheques

instead of money, we are sold too, after we thought we had escaped. I

was beginning to feel fairly comfortable once more, after my night's

rest, but the look of that envelope makes me sick. It isn't fat enough;

8,500 in even the largest bank-notes makes more bulk than that."

Edward, why do you object to cheques?"

Cheques signed by Stephenson! I am resigned to take the $8,500 if it

The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg