"You see I know more than you fancied," he resumed in triumph.
"And as for giving it this turn, great Mr. David, you must not
suppose the Government of Great Britain and Ireland will ever be
stuck for want of evidence. We have men here in prison who will
swear out their lives as we direct them; as I direct, if you prefer
the phrase. So now you are to guess your part of glory if you
choose to die. On the one hand, life, wine, women, and a duke to
be your handgun: on the other, a rope to your craig, and a gibbet
to clatter your bones on, and the lousiest, lowest story to hand
down to your namesakes in the future that was ever told about a
hired assassin. And see here!" he cried, with a formidable shrill
voice, "see this paper that I pull out of my pocket. Look at the
name there: it is the name of the great David, I believe, the ink
scarce dry yet. Can you guess its nature? It is the warrant for
your arrest, which I have but to touch this bell beside me to have
executed on the spot. Once in the Tolbooth upon this paper, may
God help you, for the die is cast!"
I must never deny that I was greatly horrified by so much baseness,
and much unmanned by the immediacy and ugliness of my danger.
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