"Can nothing I can say convince you that you are doing me an injustice?"
"Nothing. So much has been revealed and made clear to me that only one course remains open to you, so far as I am concerned."
"Perhaps," said Mark Inglefield, in a tone which he vainly strove to make defiant, "you will explain yourself?"
"I will do so. You will marry the girl you have brought to shame."
"I, sir, I! It is a monstrous idea!"
"Knowing you as I know you now, there is indeed something revolting in it--and it may be that she will not give you the opportunity of making atonement." Mark Inglefield smiled scornfully. "There is a road," pursued Mr. Manners, "out of evil, and for a little while this road will be open to you. Turn your back upon it, and go forth into the world, a beggar! Enter it--with a purified heart, if you can--and I will make you recompense."
"You will fulfil the expectations you have always held out to me?"
"No. My promise was given to a man of honor, as I believed. I will not bring my tongue to utter what you have proved yourself to be. But I will give you a competence, which my lawyers shall arrange with you. For myself, after this night I will never see you again, nor shall you ever again darken my door. There is something more, and it may weigh with you. For years past you have transacted certain business matters for me. I have not too closely looked into them. Refuse the offer I have made to you, and they shall be searched into and examined with but one end in view--punishment. Accept it, and all that has passed between us in connection with these matters shall be buried forever. You will know how best to decide. I give you"--he took out his watch--"five minutes to decide. Your fate and future are in your own hands."
Then there was silence. With his back turned to Mr. Manners, Mark Inglefield debated with himself. He knew that the matters to which Mr. Manners referred would not bear investigation, and that he was in danger of the criminal dock; he knew that Mr. Manners would show him no mercy. He shrugged his shoulders savagely, and said:
"What do you call a competence?"