"I wouldn't?" He felt that her courage was breaking, and he pushed his advantage. "Let me tell you this, little one, that letter will be written and sent to-day if you don't come off your haughty perch. Now, then?"
She saw herself beaten; this man was relentless, he would stop at nothing, and—she must make the best terms she could.
"How do I know you'll—play fair?" she hesitated. "There's a reward offered for information about that purse and——"
"A reward of a hundred pounds! What's a hundred pounds with five thousand to divide? Do you take me for a fool?"
"No."
"Well?"
Hester was accustomed to quick decisions. She had learned in a hard school to judge men, and she knew this scoundrel was acting only in a spirit of greed. There was no danger of his betraying her.
"All right," she yielded in a low tone, "I—I'll come down."
"Good girl!"
"I took the purse from the bishop but his nobs squealed before I could make my getaway, and when the coppers came in I was very near caught with the goods, only——"