THE UNSPEAKABLE GENTLEMAN
search the house, having searched you first. If they do not find the letter, I shall give you one more chance to produce it."
"Of course you realize your action is illegal?" my father interrupted.
Mr. Lawton laughed.
"We've beaten about the bush long enough," he said. "Will I have to remind you again that I didn't come to hear you talk? Come to the point. Will you give up that paper?"
With a sigh of resignation, my father fumbled in his breast pocket. When he spoke, it seemed a weak appeal to justify his action.
"Under the circumstances, what else can I do?" he demanded, "though it seems hard when I had given my word not to part with it.
He produced a long, sealed document, which he handed across the table. Mr. Lawton's eyes glistened with anticipation as he took it. He held it over the table to scan the seal.
"Damn all your caution, Sims!" he exclaimed exultantly. We've got it just as I said we would! Didn't I tell you"
His voice choked. He burst into a violent fit of sneezing. My father had
[45]
