“I’ll have my say, now, for a moment,” Madison returned. “You approached me a week ago, Deland, with a proposition that in a way appealed to me. You said you could get from Tilly Lancey a number of letters with which she has threatened me, and also that you could do it in such a way as to have it publicly appear that my political opponent, Arthur Gordon, had been trying to buy them and was secretly an intimate friend of that woman.” “Well, come to the point,” said Deland. “We admit all that.” “Good enough,” thought Nick, calmly taking it all in. “That admission will cost you something, Deland, and may save him. I’ll wait and see which way the cat jumps.” “I apprehended defeat in the coming election,” Madison went on deliberately. “For that reason, only, your proposition appealed to me. I foresaw that I could, with those letters restored to me and Gordon in a measure defamed, easily carry the election. I asked you what you would accept for doing the job? “And you agreed to pay it, ten thousand dollars, and told us to go ahead,” said Deland. “True,” Madison darkly nodded. “But I did not agree to bloodshed. You did not tell me that a murder was to be committed. You did not even hint that Tilly Lancey’s life was to be taken. Not for a moment, you double-dyed knave, would I have considered that hideous proposition. You said----” “Never mind what we said,” Deland cut in sharply. “We know what we said and to what you agreed. We have our own way of doing things, and we have delivered the goods. It now is up to you to settle. We have put Gordon in wrong. I have your letters in my pocket. You’re going to settle, too, or----” “Stop right there, Deland,” Madison interrupted, leaning forward to bang the desk with his fist. “There will be no settlement between you fellows and me. As I told Cora Cavendish two hours ago, you will not get a copper from me.” “We won’t, eh?” Deland’s hand went to his hip pocket. “Not one copper!” Madison thundered. “You say I have only one of two courses. I say, however, that I have a third course, and that’s the course I will take. There is only one way for me to settle this infamous business, and that was shown me by this man on the floor. I will confess the truth, take my medicine for what I have done, and accomplish one other thing--that of sending you miscreants to the fate you deserve! That’s the way I’ll settle with you--and the only way!” It would be hard to say what might have followed, but for one startling and utterly unexpected incident. Nick Carter sat straight up on the floor and shouted: “Good for you, Madison! Stick to that and I’ll pull you out! Against any man but Gordon--I’d give you my vote!” Nick had more than one reason for this sudden outbreak. From where he was lying on the floor, he could see through the alcove and into the dimly lighted conservatory. He could see Chick Carter and Patsy Garvan crouching there, each with revolvers drawn.