"So do I, Mr. Harwood."

Fitch pointed to a huge pile of manuscript on a table by the window. It
was a stenographic transcript of testimony in a case which had been lost
in the trial court and was now going up on appeal.

"Digest that evidence and give me the gist of it in not more than five
hundred words. That's all."

Harwood's hand was on the door when Fitch arrested him with a word.

"To recur to this private transaction between us, you have not the
remotest idea what was in that letter, and nothing was said in the
interview that gave you any hint--is that entirely correct?"

"Absolutely."

"Very well. I know nothing of the matter myself; I am merely
accommodating a friend. We need not refer to this again."

When the door had closed, the lawyer wrote a brief note which he placed
in his pocket, and dropped later into a letter-box with his own hand.
Mr. Fitch, of the law firm of Wright and Fitch, was not in the habit of
acting as agent in matters he didn't comprehend, and his part in
Harwood's errand was not to his liking. He had spoken the truth when he
said that he knew no more of the nature of the letter that had been
carried to Professor Kelton than the messenger, and Harwood's replies
to his interrogatories had told him nothing.