"But it is fourteen years—time enough for anything to be outlawed."
"I have asked about that. Crimes are not like debts—they cannot be outlawed, Mr. Stacy."
"And you could find it in your heart to hunt down an old sweetheart like that, providing all you say is true? I wouldn't a believed it of you, Maggie."
"It seems to me that sweetheart just now refused to lend me twenty-five pounds."
"Refused! No, he did not refuse."
Matthew caught his breath, and changed his wheedling tone all at once. A new idea had struck him.
"But, supposing what you say is true, there isn't any one in England to prosecute—"
"Yes, there is the lady's agent. He sat by you when we first saw the shawl. Mr. Hepworth Closs."
Matthew Stacy sprang to his feet, perfectly aghast.
"And you have told him?"