Chapter IX.

The next week David Baker came to Stillwater. He was a few years older than Eric but the two had always been close friends. Eric would have trusted David with his life. David was an ugly man with a clever, irregular, charming face and a voice that was as soft and musical as a woman’s. He looked curiously at Eric when the two young men were alone in the latter’s room. “Now, Murray, I want to know what all this is about. You wrote me a letter entreating me, in the name of friendship, to come to you at once. According…