"
"Come--we mustn't lose time."
"Mr. Quarrier, do be calm, and let us talk before we go. She is
quite safe. And as for Northway, I am perfectly sure that you can
keep him silent."
"You think it possible?"
"If you will consent to follow in the path I have prepared. I have
taken no small trouble."
She looked up at him and smiled.
"You have behaved like a true friend, Mrs. Wade--it is no more
than I should have expected of you. But what have you planned? Think
how this secret has already spread--what hope is there of finally
hushing it up? Glazzard and you would never breathe a syllable; but
how, short of manslaughter, could I assure the silence of a
blackguard like this Northway? If I let him blackmail me, I am done
for: I should be like the fools in plays and novels, throwing half
my possessions away, and all in vain."
"Pray remember," urged the other, "that this Northway is by no means
the rascal of melodrama. He has just enough brains to make him
conceited, and is at the disposal of any one who plays upon his
conceit. With much trouble I induced him to regard you as a source
of profit." She broke off and seemed to falter. "I think you won't
find fault with me, Mr. Quarrier, for trying to do this?"
"You did it ill the friendliest spirit."
"And not indiscreetly, I hope." She looked at him for a moment, and
continued: "He is bribable, but you must go to work carefully.
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