"I have told you enough," resumed Old Death, "to convince you that this Earl of Ellingham deserves no mercy at my hands: and if I say that I will give each of you a hundred pounds—yes, a hundred pounds each—to do my bidding in all things calculated to accomplish my vengeance on that man,—if I make you this promise, I suppose you will not refuse to enlist yourselves in my employ. But, mark you!" he added hastily, and with a sinister knitting of the brows; "before you give me your answer, bear in mind that my vengeance is to be terrible—terrible in the extreme!"
"You mean to have the Earl murdered, I suppose?" said John Jeffreys.
"Murdered—killed!—no—no," exclaimed Old Death; "that would be a vengeance little calculated to appease me! He must live to know—to feel that I am avenged," added the malignant old villain. "He must experience such outrages—such insults—such ignominy,—that he may writhe and smart under them like a worm under the teeth of the harrow. He must be made aware whence the blow comes—by whose order it is dealt—and wherefore it is levelled against him. Will you, then, for one week devote yourselves to my service? If you agree, I will at once give you an earnest of the sums promised as your recompense: if you refuse, there is an end of the matter—and I must look out elsewhere."
"But you haven't told us what we are to do to earn our reward," said Josh Pedler.
"There is no murder in the case," observed Old Death, emphatically.
"Then I for one consent without another minute's hesitation," exclaimed Josh Pedler.
"And me too," said Tim the Snammer.
"And I'm sure I'm not going to hang back," cried John Jeffreys.
"Good!" continued Benjamin Bones. "Though you've all got plenty of money in your pockets, there's no harm in having more. I will give you each thirty pounds on account of the business I have now in hand," he added, taking his greasy pocket-book from the bosom of his old grey coat.
The specified amount was handed over to each of the three villains, who received the bank-notes with immense satisfaction.