“I do not know what it was that prompted me, but, joining in the conversation, I said—
“‘You are right; I often tumbled across people I never expected to see again—mere passing acquaintances. Do you know,’ I continued, ‘last night when you arrived I fancied we had met before, though then you had no beard and moustache?’
“I could have sworn, and did to myself at the moment, that his hand trembled as he raised his cup to his lips; but a moment after, as he set it down again, he was perfectly calm and cool, while in a nonchalant tone he replied—
“‘I must say you have the advantage of me, as I am not aware that we ever met before; indeed, I am quite sure that we never did. Besides, I have worn a beard and moustache ever since one or the other would grow.’
“‘Why, when you were in Paris you were as clean shaven as a priest on a feast-day,’ burst in Charlie, quite innocently; but Murray, without taking any notice of the observation, turned to Mrs. Forrester, and commenced talking to her about something quite different.
“Slowly, but surely, a conviction was growing upon me that made me pay considerable respect to my impressions of the night before, and determined me to be more watchful than ever.
“My only fear was that Mrs. Forrester, in the weakness of her terror, would take some desperate step, when after all, as I firmly believed, there was not the slightest ground for alarm.
“In the course of the next twenty-four hours, by dint of pertinacious listening and watching, I found that Murray’s protestations of affection cooled in proportion as he ingenuously hinted that his silence may be purchased for a reasonable sum—a suggestion that his victim caught eagerly at, only to be the more crushed by the revulsion of feeling that followed when she reflected how utterly impossible it was for her to obtain the two hundred pounds he modestly asked.
“He was treading on dangerous ground, this same Murray; even as he stood there I might have handed him into the custody of the nearest constable on a charge of endeavouring to extort money by threats and menaces.
“Looking at it from a legal point of view, this would have been an excellent course to adopt; but it was the exposure that was to be avoided, and, therefore, it was necessary to adopt different tactics.