'Do you forget that someone will very soon be at large again, and that someone's wife, a very clever woman, counts on deceiving the world as she deceived him?'
'You are sure she did deceive him?'
Mrs. Strangeways laughed.
'You are acute, my dear. You see the puzzle from all sides. But I won't go into that just now. What I want to show you is, that our interests are the same. We should both dearly like to see a certain person shown up. I begin to see my way to do it very thoroughly. It would delight you if I were at liberty to tell what I actually have got hold of, but you must wait a little. My worst difficulty, now, is want of money. People have to be bought, you know, and I am not rich——. Don't you think you could help a little?'
The question came out with smooth abruptness, accompanied by a look which startled the hearer.
'I? I have no money.'
'What an idea!'
'I tell you I haven't a penny of my own!'
'My dear Alma, you have obliging bankers. One of them is doing very well indeed. You didn't go to his wedding?'
Alma felt a chill of fear. The woman's eyes seemed to cast a net about her, and to watch her struggle as it tightened.