"If you do distrust Mr. Orcutt, you must have weightier reasons for it than any you have given me. What are they? You must be willing I should know, or you would not have gone as far with me as you have."
"You are right," Gryce assured him. "A case so complicated as this calls for unusual measures. Mr. Ferris, feeling the gravity of his position, allows me to take you into our confidence, in the hope that you will be able to help us out of our difficulty."
"I help you! You'd better release me first."
"That will come in time."
"If I help you?"
"Whether you help or not, if we can satisfy ourselves and the world that Mr. Orcutt's words were a confession. You may hasten that conviction."
"How?"
"By clearing up the mystery of your flight from Mrs. Clemmens' house."
The keen eyes of the prisoner fell; all his old distrust seemed on the point of returning.
"That would not help you at all," said he.