“If you will go home with me, I will give you a place in my factory.”
“I can hunt and fish, and as my wants are few I think I shall get along.”
“As your father and I were young men together, I should like to do something for you.”
“You can do something for me,” said Gerald significantly.
“Keep the promise you made to my father fifteen years ago.”
Bradley Wentworth looked uneasy. It was clear that the boy thoroughly understood the compact.
“I mean that my father sacrificed his reputation to save yours. Through him you obtained your inheritance and are to-day a rich man. For this you solemnly agreed to give him twenty thousand dollars when you came into your uncle’s fortune.”
“You are laboring under a delusion, boy!” said Wentworth harshly.
“You know better than that, Mr. Wentworth,” answered Gerald calmly.
“You are certainly very modest in your demands. Twenty thousand dollars, indeed!”
“It was not I who fixed upon that sum, but yourself. As my father’s sacrifice brought you over three hundred thousand dollars, it was a good bargain for you.”
“What have you to show in proof of this extraordinary claim of yours?” demanded Wentworth, waiting eagerly for the answer.
“Your confession over your own signature that you forged the check, a crime attributed to my father, and confessing that he bore the blame to screen you.”
“Where is this paper?” demanded Wentworth, edging, as if unconsciously, nearer the boy.
“It is safe,” answered Gerald, rising and facing his companion.
“Show it to me! I won’t believe in its existence unless you show it to me.”
“This is not the time to show it,” said Gerald.
“I differ with you. This is the precise time to show it if you have it, which I very much doubt.”
“I will show it to you in due time, Mr. Wentworth. This is not the right time, nor the right place.”
“I shall answer no more questions, Mr. Wentworth.”
Wentworth eyed Gerald, doubting whether he should not seize him then and there and wrest from him the paper if he proved to have it, but there was something in the resolute look of the boy that daunted him, man though he was, and he decided that it would be better to have recourse to a little strategy. For this the boy would be less prepared than for open force.