"I could, if I chose, step from here to
my lawyers' and have you indicted for conspiracy. I could get you seven
to ten years. I could have you breaking stones at Portland."
"Then why don't you?"
"I have my private reasons."
"One of them being that you haven't a shred of evidence," was the cool
reply.
"Who sends cables in my name to my managers?" demanded Matheson.
"I know nothing of that."
"You _do_ know it. One of your employees sends them."
"Have you such a cable with you?"
Matheson ignored the retort. "You've told my wife and my father-in-law
that I was alive."
"I knew you _were_ alive. Is that your idea of fraud?"
"I'm not going to quibble over words. Believing me to be dead, you had
me impersonated, planning to use my name on the Hudson Bay scheme."
"I've not used your name."
"You used it to induce St Aubyn and Carleton-Wingate to come on the
Board."
"If you're thinking to prove that, you merely waste your time. The
negotiations were carried out by your father-in-law."
"You used my name to a reporter on the _Europe Chronicle_."
"Have you written evidence of that?"
"Martin will swear to it, if necessary."
Larssen laughed harshly. "An out-of-elbows reporter on a sensational
yellow journal! Do you dream for one instant that his word would stand
against mine in a court of law? See here, Matheson, you'd better go back
and read over your brief with the man who's instructing you. He's
muddled up the facts.
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