"My dear friend," said Gilbert, with a courteous bow, "the hope is reciprocal. Let us not prolong this interview. Open your bank and purchase freedom."
Chaytor unbuttoned his waistcoat, and from an inner pocket extracted two bundles of bank notes. Gilbert held out his hand.
"No, no, old fox," said Chaytor. "There are three times five thousand pounds here." He looked at Gilbert savagely.
"If," said the old man, laughing lightly, "by a wish you could burn me to ashes where I stand, you would breathe that wish willingly."
"Most willingly."
"But why? I am dealing tenderly, mercifully by you. In right and justice this money belongs not to you. It belongs to Basil Whittingham. If he were here he could take possession of it, and neither you nor I would care to gainsay him. It being, therefore, as much mine as yours, I let you off lightly by demanding so small a sum. Come, let us finish the comedy; it is time the curtain fell. Count out the price of liberty, the price of my silence, and let us take an affectionate farewell of each other."
"Are you sure we are alone?"
"Do you think I would reveal our conspiracy to a third person? In my pleasant house every human being is asleep; they dream not of the grief which will fill their hearts to-morrow when they learn that you have departed."
"Give me the papers I have signed. Here is your share of the robbery. You had better count it to make sure."
As Gilbert bent over the table to count the notes, Chaytor, with a swift movement, drew a heavy life-preserver from his breast, and aimed a murderous blow at the old man's head. But Gilbert was too quick for him; he had but one eye on the money he was fingering, the other was furtively watching his companion. He darted back, and so escaped the blow; the weapon descended upon the table, and this shock and the violent movements of the men overturned the lamps, the light of which was instantly extinguished. Each man had but one hand disengaged, Chaytor holding the life-preserver and Gilbert a pistol, which he had brought with him as a protection against treachery. The moment the room was in darkness the two disengaged hands groped over the table for the money, and were fiercely clasped. And now a surprising incident occurred. Upon these two hands a third hand was laid, and before they could free themselves were handcuffed together. Simultaneously with this startling and secure manacling of their hands the pistol was knocked from Gilbert's grasp and the life-preserver from Chaytor's; and then a shrill whistle pierced the air and drove the blood from the cheeks of the conspirators. Hurried sounds of steps resounded through the passage.