Chandos was provoked by the rapid return of his cool impudence; and he replied, "You shall see your way clearly, but it shall be to prison."
At the same time he laid his hand upon the worthy gentleman's collar again, and turning to Lockwood, added, "You can pinion him with my handkerchief, Lockwood. Then I and Faber can take him over to S----, while you remain here to see that nothing is abstracted till a proper search can be made."
"There, there, you are so very hasty," said the culprit; "now do be a little reasonable. Can you expect me to give up such sums without some small consideration for my pains."
"The consideration which you will get," answered Chandos, "is an escape from punishment."
"I must have something more than that," said Mr. Bond. "And now, Sir, I will tell you in one word how we stand; for you seem to think you can have it all your own way; but you cannot. You have got the whip hand of me in one way, and I have got the whip hand of Mr. Tracy in another. It is very lucky for him that you are not an officer, as I thought at first; for if you had been, not one shred of all his shares would he ever have seen in his life. You think it is in this house, or perhaps in my pocket; but you may search the premises and the pockets too, and if you find a single share you may eat me. Now, Mr. Winslow, I tell you there is nobody knows where the whole amount is but myself, and there it shall lie till it rots, unless I have ten thousand pounds for giving it up. That is my last word upon the subject."
"Then perhaps you will have the goodness to walk with me," said Chandos; "only just a little way, till we can get a post-chaise to carry you before a magistrate; for ten thousand pounds you certainly will not have, or anything the least like it. If it had been a fifty pound note you demanded, just to help you into some foreign country, I might have given it to you on receiving the shares."
"But what am I to do when I get to a foreign country?" said Mr. Bond, coolly. "You forget, my dear Sir, that a man must live. And if I am not to live comfortably, I might as well go to Van-Diemen's-Land, and let Mr. Tracy do without his shares."
"You had better give him something, Mr. Winslow," said Faber; "the poor devil must have something to start with."
"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Faber," said Mr. Bond; "that is the right view of the case. I wonder if you are any relation of Faber, my old college chum--a wonderfully clever fellow he was."
Chandos could have knocked him down; but the negotiation was renewed by Faber and Lockwood; and, after a great deal of haggling and resistance, the rogue's demand was reduced to the sum of fifty pounds in hand, and a draft for five hundred pounds at seven days' date, to be drawn by him and accepted by Chandos on the spot. He moreover exacted from the young gentleman, acting as agent for Mr. Tracy, a receipt in full of all demands; and when these points were conceded, he drew the draft and the receipt with his own hand, and even made an effort to get them both signed by Chandos, before he produced the papers.