the major, holding up his hand deprecatingly,
"you put me in the painful position of having to explain meself in plain
words. If I saw a man about to do a murther, I should think nothing of
murthering him. If I saw a pickpocket at work, I'd pick his pocket, and
think it good fun to do it. Now, this little business of yours is--
well, we'll say unusual, and if what I do seems a little unusual too,
it's to be excused. Ye can't throw stones at every one, me boy, and
then be surprised when some one throws one at you. You bite the diamond
holders, d'ye see, and I take a little nibble at you. It's all fair
enough."

The merchant reflected again for some moments. "Suppose we agree to
purchasing your silence at this price," he said, "what guarantee have we
that you will not come and extort more money, or that you may not betray
our secret after all?"

"The honour of a soldier and a gintleman," answered the major, rising
and tapping his chest with two fingers of his right hand.

A slight sneer played over Girdlestone's pale face, but he made no
remark. "We are in your power," he said, and have no resource but to
submit to your terms. You said five hundred pounds?"

"A thousand," the major answered cheerfully.

"It's a great sum of money."

"Deuce of a lot!" said the veteran cordially.

"Well, you shall have it. I will communicate with you." Girdlestone
rose as if to terminate the interview.

The major made no remark, but he showed his white teeth again, and
tapped Mr. Girdlestone's cheque-book with the silver head of his
walking-stick.

"What! Now?"

"Yes, now."

The two looked at each other for a moment and the merchant sat down
again and scribbled out a cheque, which he tossed to his companion. The
latter looked it over carefully, took a fat little pocket-book from the
depths of his breast pocket, and having placed the precious slip of
paper in it, laboriously pushed it back into its receptacle. Then he
very slowly and methodically picked up his jaunty curly-brimmed hat and
shining kid gloves, and with a cheery nod to his companion, who answered
it with a scowl, he swaggered off into the counting-house. There he
shook hands with Tom, whom he had known for some months, and having made
three successive offers--one to stand immediately an unlimited quantity
of champagne, a second to play him five hundred up for anything he would
name, and a third to lay a tenner for him at 7 to 4 on Amelia for the
Oa