Now, you know my
secret, and I'm in your power!"
CHAPTER XXIII
EBONY SAYS "THUMBS UP"
Tom Reade stared in frank amazement at the trembling man.
"Do you mean to insult me, Mr. Bascomb?" demanded the young engineer
bluntly.
"Insult you? The fates forbid," replied Bascomb with a sickly grin.
"Reade, I don't dare offend you in any way."
"But you do insult me, sir, in believing that it would be possible for me
to make any hostile use of whatever unpleasant knowledge I may possess
against you."
"Do you mean to say that you wouldn't use the knowledge?" demanded the
president of the Melliston Company.
"You're insulting me again, sir. Perhaps you are to be pardoned, Mr.
Bascomb. You have been so long dancing to the fiddling of an Evarts that
you don't realize how impossible it is for a gentleman to do a dishonorable
thing."
"Then---then I---I can rely upon your silence?" demanded Mr. Bascomb,
eagerly.
"I am sorry, sir, to think that you even think it necessary to ask me such
a question," rejoined Reade gravely.
"Reade! Reade! You can't imagine how grateful you'll find me if I really
can rely upon you to forget what you overheard to-night!" cried the
humiliated man.
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