aid. "I have made up my mind as to what I will do. You shall
not touch one penny of this blood-money. You shall have a run for your
worthless life, and I promise not to denounce you to the men whom you
have betrayed for twelve hours. To-morrow at midday I shall tell all I
know, and you are the best judge of what it will be safest to do in the
meanwhile."

"All right," he answered, desperately, rising to his feet and buttoning
his coat about him; "you've found your chance and you've used it. It's a
useful thing for you to get me out of the way, no doubt, but I may find
a chance of being even with you yet, and if I do, I'll take it."

"You seem resolute," I told him, "to force me to do my worst. At this
very instant, when I hold your life in my hands, when it is in my power
to hand you over to justice by a word, and when I propose--partly
for old friendship's sake and partly because I am ashamed that a
fellow-countryman of mine should have been such a blackguard--to let you
go, you are fool enough to tell me that my mercy has no effect upon you,
and that you will do your best to be revenged upon me. Think that over,
Brunow."

He turned his face away, and sat in silence for a minute; but all of a
sudden I saw his shoulders begin to heave, his hands worked together,
and he broke into convulsive tears. He sobbed so noisily that though the
door was already closed, I darted towards it with an instinctive wish to
shut out the sound from the ears of the people in the next room.

"For God's sake, Fyffe," he broke out, "let me go! I'll promise
anything, do anything. I've--I've always been an honorable man till now,
and I--I can't stand it any longer. If you've got any pity in you, let
me go!"

I was as much ashamed as he was, though, I hope, in another way, and
I was eager to cut short the conference. For all that, I had a duty to
discharge.

"You shall go," I said, "and I shall be glad to be rid of you. But first
of all you shall make a clean breast of it."

He told the story in a furtive, broken way, as well he might; and how
much more and how much less than the actual truth he told me I never
knew with certainty, but it came to this. He had had heavy gambling
losses, and had got into financial difficulties. The Baroness Bonnar had
found this out, and had told him of a way by which he might recuperate
himself. She had only hinted at first, and he had indignantly refused
her proposal, but he had played about the bait, as