"No, he did it at my instigation. I managed to communicate with him and assure him that no harm should come of it. No harm would have come of it if I had only kept my head and done the right thing. But the fact remains that Mrs. Richford is in there; she has those diamonds in her pocket and the thieves are on the track. It seems to me——"
Mary did not finish the sentence, for Mark held out a hand and pulled her behind a bush, just in time, as two other people came up the path. There was no occasion to tell either of the watchers that here were the people of whom they were talking. The man Reggie and the woman Cora were standing on the doorstep whispering together. It was quite a still night and the other two behind the bushes could hear every word that was said.
"So far, so good," the man was saying. "We've got here and we are pretty sure that our bird is securely caged, but what next?"
"Wait our chance," the woman said with a certain fierce indrawing of her breath. "We can appear to
have come here by accident, for instructions, anything. So long as Sartoris does not know about those stones we are safe. When we get them——"
"When we get them, Richford can whistle for his share of the money," the man said coolly. "By this time to-morrow we shall be in possession of more money than we have ever had before. I don't like this present business, it's far too dangerous. Unless we go so far as to murder that fellow Berrington and get him out of the way——"
"Don't," the woman said with a shudder. "I hate that kind of work. Anything clever or cunning, anything requiring audacity, I can do with. But violence!"
She shuddered again, and the man laughed softly as if greatly pleased with some idea of his.
"There is going to be no more violence or anything else," he said. "This game has got far too dangerous. We'll change those stones into money and then we'll quietly vanish and leave our good friend Sartoris to his own devices. What do you say to that?"
"Amen, with all my heart," the girl said. "The sooner the better. But don't forget that we have not yet settled on a plan of action."