"
"I'll be hanged if I do. What are you driving at?"
"At the fact that you have finally concluded to cancel the crooked deals
with--wait, and I'll give you the names of the co-respondents"--and he
drew a packet of neatly docketed letters from his pocket.
"Hold on a minute," protested the traffic manager; "you're getting in
rather too deep for me. Will you let me see those letters?"
Blount put the letters back into his pocket and mechanically buttoned
his light top-coat over them for additional safety.
"Do you mean to say that you haven't passed the word to Hathaway and
McDarragh and a dozen others I could name?" he asked.
"Of course I haven't. You call yourself a lawyer, and yet you ask us to
set aside promises that are, or ought to be, as binding as so many
written contracts with penalties attached. You're crazy, Evan; it can't
be done, and that's all there is to it."
Blount was frowning thoughtfully. "'Can't' goes out of the window when
'must' comes in at the door, Dick. You remember what I told you--that
I'd get evidence, lawyer-fashion. I've got it; evidence of the sort that
would turn the people of this State into a howling mob to tear up your
tracks if I should publish it."
"But I tell you we _can't_ withdraw the specials, you wild-eyed
fanatic!"
"All right; then level down the public's rates to fit them.
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