At first Mrs. Slingsby was incredulous relative to the version of the murder which she heard. She thought that Torrens was himself the perpetrator of the act; but when he declared how cruelly the robbery of his money had embarrassed him, and when she reflected that there really could have been no reason urgent or strong enough to induce him to make away with the baronet, she ended by fully believing his narrative.
"Then he is indeed no more!" she exclaimed. "But, my God! what will be thought of his disappearance?—and will not those enquiries, which I so much dread, be made?"
"As no suspicion can possibly fall upon either yourself or me," responded Mr. Torrens, "it is far from likely that any such enquiries will be instituted. No—you need not be alarmed on that head, my dear madam. I should rather be inclined to entertain apprehensions for the success of your own scheme of——the forgery," he added, after a moment's pause.
"No danger can possibly attend that undertaking," said Mrs. Slingsby. "The baronet stated at the bankers' that he should give me the cheque yesterday; and it will be paid in a moment, even if they have already heard of his disappearance, which is scarcely probable, because the fears excited by that fact have not as yet become so strong as to lead to the suspicion that he has indeed met with foul play."
"You are, then, confident of being enabled to counterfeit his handwriting successfully?" asked Mr. Torrens.
"Beyond all possibility of doubt," replied the widow.
"And shall you want my assistance?" inquired Torrens, thinking how he could start a pretext for claiming a portion of the expected proceeds of the nefarious plan.
"Listen to me," said Mrs. Slingsby, after a few moments' deliberation, and now speaking as if she had finally come to a settled resolution on a particular point, which she had been revolving in her mind almost ever since Mr. Torrens entered the room: "I have something to propose to you which regards us both, and which may suit yourself as well as it would suit me. You are involved in embarrassments?"
"I am indeed," replied Mr. Torrens, now awaiting breathless suspense the coming explanation, which, by the leading question just put, appeared to relate to some scheme for relieving him of his difficulties.
"And these embarrassments are very serious?" continued the widow.