"Don't want to. Sorry if I'm not conducting the business according to etiquette. You know more about this sort of thing than I do. Ring the bell by all means, and I'll have up the police. Ring; go on."
"No, no, Clara, don't!" shrieked Boldini, leaping out of his chair at the mention of the police. "He knows too much."
"Hold your tongue," said the woman, between her teeth. "He can prove nothing, you fool."
"The police can judge of that," replied Aldean, quietly. "Ring."
But Miss Trall did not ring. She knew better. She recognized that whatever he might know, Lord Aldean knew quite enough to make the intervention of the police unpleasant. The game was up, she saw plainly. So reluctantly she yielded.
"We can do all that is to be done here," said she, sullenly, fighting every inch.
"I'm afraid not," answered Jim, suavely. "My hotel is the best place. There's a cab waiting." Then, seeing that Clara was still irresolute, he took out his watch. "I'll give you just two minutes."
Clara moved slowly across the room to where Boldini sat in sheer terror. "What shall we do?" she asked, in a low voice.
"Go, go," moaned the man. "We must go; perhaps we can make terms."
Aldean overheard the remark. "It is my right to make terms," he said, "and I make these. Give back the money; confess the whole conspiracy, and you can go where you will."