"Oh! Lord," I groaned. "To think that a frowsy, oily haired Jewess should be the cause of my undoing. Why in the name of goodness was she not satisfied to take the coffin for a gift!"
"Perhaps she was afraid to sell it, or perhaps she tried to sell it and could not show a title to its would-be purchaser. You should not condemn her, Hume, upon ex parte evidence. Pardon me for saying it, but the fault was yours. You should not have given her the coffin at all. You should have got rid of it by other means!"
"Too true!" I groaned. "But I only wanted a day's grace then, or I'd not have been so careless!"
"You had seven!" he exclaimed. "The advertisement did not appear for a week!"
I felt my cheeks crimson. "After all," I muttered, "you owe everything to Marion."
"Were you really such a fool," he cried.
I nodded. "Give me to drink!" I said. "I'm feeling weak and sick."
He made a sign, and one of the negroes hurried out. I was very near swooning, when I felt my chair tipped back, and something was forced between my teeth. I drank and was revived. Then one of the negroes fed me with a bowl of soup and soon my strength was perfectly restored. Sir Charles Venner waited all the time before me, occasionally feeling my pulse. He seemed satisfied at last that my condition warranted his promised inquisition, and he proceeded straight away to business.
"Where are the jewels?" he demanded. "The jewels you purchased with the ten thousand pounds that you extorted from me?"
"In a safe place." I replied.