"Not till this thing is settled," he replied, shaking off the other's hand impatiently. "I mean to have the truth out of the old rat, or his life."
"And the girl's too," added the other. "You know what we were told about them both. I shall wait for him."
"No, no. No bloodshed, no bloodshed, for Heaven's sake," cried the old man with a gesture of protest and dismay.
"My God! Look here!" This was from one of the two who had moved forward and was pointing at the dead body.
The old man gave a cry of horror and sank into a chair covering his face in his clasped hands.
"What can this mean?"
His companions were standing by the body gazing at one another in blank wonderment and surprise. Then one of them stooped down and examined the corpse.
"Dead, sure enough; and murdered, too," he announced.
He rose and they both looked round at the elder man. "Do you know anything of this?" asked one.
Without a word the man they addressed sprang up and rushed out of the room.