“Quite so, Mr. Barton, I was watching for you. I felt sure they would put you after me, so I waited till you had been there and got instructions, and then I thought I would come in and hear all about it.”
“You are a cool hand, certainly,” Mr. Barton said, in a tone of admiration.
“Well, you see I have been for some time looking things in the face and making my calculations. I knew, of course, that it must come out, sooner or later, and I think I have made myself pretty well master of everything which could bear upon my chances. As I felt sure they would put you on me I inquired all about your way of doing business.”
“And what was the result of your investigation?” Mr. Barton asked, rather grimly.
“Why, you see,” the man said, carelessly, “here I am. And now to business. How much have they offered you?—a hundred pounds?”
“Two hundred,” Mr. Barton said.
“I am sure I feel it a compliment. Two hundred pounds! Well, now look here. I have taken a big sum altogether, but it has been over a long time, and has gone pretty nearly as fast as I got it. My luck on the turf has been really a caution. So I don’t get off with much in the end, only a few hundred pounds, but I tell you what, I will give you five hundred pounds to let me go.”
Mr. Barton hesitated, and sat thoughtfully for nearly a minute, and then he said, “The three hundred you offer me more than they do is not sufficient to cover the risk.”
“Nonsense, man, there is no risk in the matter, as you know as well as I do.”
“But suppose, Mr. Symes, that the police catch you, how then?”