excitedly pacing the floor.

"They believe plainly," he continued, growing more excited as he
paced up and down, "that the pictures will of course be accepted
by the public as among those stolen from me, and in that, I
suppose, they are right. The public will swallow it. If I say I'll
prosecute, they'll laugh and tell me to go ahead, that they didn't
steal the pictures. Our informant tells us that a hundred copies
have been made of each and that they have them ready to drop into
the mail to the leading hundred papers, not only of this city but
of the state, in time for them to appear Sunday. They think that
no amount of denying on our part can destroy the effect."

"That's it," I persisted. "The only way is to buy them off."

"But, Jameson," argued Carton, "I repeat--they are false. It is a
plot of Dorgan's, the last fight of a boss, driven into a corner,
for his life. And it is meaner than if he had attempted to forge a
letter. Pictures appeal to the eye much more than letters. That's
what makes the thing so dangerous. Dorgan knows how to make the
best use of such a roorback on the eve of an election and even if
I not only deny but prove that they are a fake, I'm afraid the
harm will be done. I can't reach all the voters in time. Ten see
such a charge to one who sees the denial."

He looked from one to the other of us helplessly. "If we had a
week or two, it might be all right. But I can't make any move to-
day without making a fool of myself, nothing until they are
published, as the last big thing of the campaign. Monday and
Tuesday morning do not give me time to reply in the papers and