Johnston McCulley

“ Harms turned toward the window again, to hide his emotion. Somehow, everything connected with Bobbie touched his heart—and little else did.
“I want you to buck up and be a man,” he continued, turning to Sam after a while. “You find yourself in a peculiar position. You are the son of a successful man, at whose heels all the curs in the town are snapping. I’ve had to fight my enemies, and you’ll have to fight the same enemies after I’m gone, unless you back down and let them put you down and out. ”

“ Freely arose, and so did Harms.
“I am in your power,” said the district attorney. “You refuse to look at the other side of the matter—refuse to see how a promise to a dying mother, or love for a foolish, weak boy can enter into the case. You say I am guilty—and technically I am. You are going to ruin my career and try to send me to prison. ”

“ Sam was his big brother, a young man of twenty-three who did pretty much as he pleased. John Wellington Harms had been anxious about Sam for some time. The young man was one of a fast set, he knew, and threw money about recklessly. Not that Harms cared for the money—because he didn’t when one of his own family had the spending of it—but he loved both of his boys—Sam, the young club man, and Bobbie, whose coming had meant his mother’s departure from the world.
“We’ll have to talk to Sam,” he said, stroking Bobbie’s hair. “Yes, son, we’ll have to talk to Sam.” ”

“ Now I have come to you to demand that, instead of shielding young Newton, you bring action against him at once. Your idea that he would profit by the lesson of one crime seems to have been a bad one.”
“What do you mean?” Freely demanded.
“I mean that the young man has committed a second crime—that he has forged another check. This time, he forged my name. The amount was two hundred dollars, and he made the check payable to himself. That’s nerve, of course—but I suppose he wanted to use the money to get out of the country.”
Freely bent forward suddenly and looked Harms in the eyes. ”

“ I’ve got a strangle hold on him. He has a fool of a half-brother, Walter Newton, who spends money but can’t make it. Newton forged a check on Blakely, one of my business associates. Freely paid the check and didn’t prosecute Newton. I got the facts. I’ll have Freely hounded for malfeasance, and I’ll spoil his senatorial race and send him to jail!”
Harms was walking back and forth again, clenching his fists. He had forgotten about Sam’s dereliction from obedience in his anger at the district attorney who had thwarted him. ”

“ Then we may perhaps learn the truth.”
“I’ll do it!” cried Harms. “And when my son denies his guilt, I’ll cram these lies back into your throats and send you and your rascal of a brother to the pen where you belong. My car is outside. Come, both of you! You, too, Allen!”
IV
Half an hour later they sat in Harms’ library, waiting for Sam, who had been summoned. He came in presently, dressed in an outing suit, his eyes still heavy with sleep. When he saw Newton and Freely, his face grew white, and his hands trembled. ”

“ Walter Newton was the half-brother of the district attorney. Evidently that young man had not stopped at a single crime. Now he had dared to forge the name of John Wellington Harms, and Harms would use the forgery to break Freely and to jail his half-brother also. ”

“ I do! I know he’s your half brother! That makes the case the more aggravated. Sell out the people to protect members of your own family! You—reformer!"
When Freely answered there was a new quality in his voice. ”