“Swore he couldn’t find her.”
“Then the wolf set the fox to carry off the lamb, and now the fox says he has not seen the prey,” said Mrs Glaire, smiling.
“Damn your riddles and fables!” cried Richard, who was beside himself with rage. “I tell you he has sold me.”
“What you might have expected,” said his mother.
“The scoundrel has hidden her somewhere,” cried Richard; “and it’s his plan to get more money out of me.”
“What you might have expected,” said Mrs Glaire, again. “You had better set the police to watch him and find him out.”
“Not while I can do it better myself,” said the young man, with a cunning grin upon his countenance. “You have both been very clever, I dare say you think; and if the truth were known, you have been setting Sim Slee to get her away, so as to marry me to your pet; but you won’t succeed.”
“You are wrong, Richard; I would not trust Sim Slee with the value of a penny. I gave him ten pounds for his information, and I have not seen him since. You had better employ the police.”
“Curse the police!” cried Richard, looking hard at his mother’s face, and feeling that she was telling him the truth; “what good are they? I might have been killed before they would have interfered. But I’ve not done with Master Sim Slee yet.”
“Then you will not employ the police?”