I wrote him two letters at the time, which letters if I had them now would go a long way to clearing me of this charge of bribery, for they plainly showed that I regarded the transaction as a _bona fide_ investment.

Since this trouble began I wrote to Ryder asking him to return me these letters so I might use them in my defence.

The only reply I got was an insolent note from his secretary saying that Mr.Ryder had forgotten all about the transaction, and in any case had not the letters I referred to." "Couldn't you compel him to return them ?" asked Shirley.
"We could never get at him," interrupted Stott.

"The man is guarded as carefully as the Czar." "Still," objected Shirley, "it is possible that he may have lost the letters or even never received them." "Oh, he has them safe enough," replied Stott.

"A man like Ryder keeps every scrap of paper, with the idea that it may prove useful some day.