He strode to the door and turned. The other, cowering white and speechless, made no attempt to follow him.
“Your villainy, sir,” said Gilead, “is known and recorded against you. Any further attempt on your part to blackmail the unhappy young man, the victim of this your most cowardly method of persecution, will be made very effectively to recoil upon your own head. All my wealth, sir, all the influence I possess should be devoted to the destruction of a reptile so noisome. You can produce your proofs if you will; they will avail nothing against the truth which has been very clearly exposed in their despite. Think it enough if they serve to defend you in the charge of felony which will most certainly follow your least endeavour to re-set the toils which have been broken. The law, sir, the law is already acquainted with your practices.”
He flung out of the room so violently that he literally floored the anæmic boy, who had been listening at the keyhole. For some minutes after he had gone, the moneylender stood, in a state of semi-stupefaction, looking from one safe to the other. Then, with an explosive sigh, he tottered to the smaller.
“Everything intact,” he whispered; “not a sign of its having been tampered with. It was certainly very warm yesterday, but—damme!” he screamed, “it must have been the ghost of that hot-tempered devil Lerroux himself!”
CHAPTER VIII.
THE QUEST OF THE RED-MOROCCO HANDBAG
“A Young lady asks immediate assistance from some benevolent capitalist to enable her to recover property of considerable value. Address D. L. 078542 Daily Post.”
Gilead looked up from a perusal of the above advertisement with a twinkle in his eye.
“A young lady again?” said he. “Upon my word I don’t know if I dare to risk the bait a second time.”
“You mean the implied invitation?” answered Miss Halifax, with a smile. “I mustn’t venture to advise, Mr Balm. Your judgments put us all to shame.”
“That’s just it,” he said. “I don’t want to spoil the reputation I made over that Marble Statuette affair. Supposing we divide the responsibility, and invite the advertiser to an interview, at which we will both be present, in this room? We can form our independent opinions, then, and act upon them as each thinks fit. If we differ, the result shall justify the better. Do you agree?”