CHAPTER LIII.
CAPTAIN ARCHER TURNS UP.
"Do not betray me, my lord," said Mary, from out of the gloom.
"I will declare your malpractices to the four winds of heaven, Miss Corby, as soon as I know what they are. Why, why do you come rustling into the room, like a mouse in the dark? Tell me at once what this hole-and-corner work means."
"I will not, unless you promise not to betray me, Lord Saltire."
"Now just think how foolish you are. How can I possibly make myself particeps, of what is evidently a most dark and nefarious business, without knowing beforehand what benefit I am to receive? You offer me no share of booty; you offer me no advantage, direct or indirect, in exchange for my silence, except that of being put into possession of facts which it is probably dangerous to know anything about. How can you expect to buy me on such terms as these?"
"Well, then, I will throw myself on your generosity. I want Blackwood. If I can find Blackwood now, I shall get a full hour at it to myself while you are all at dinner. Do you know where it is?"
"Yes," said Lord Saltire.
"Do tell me, please. I do so want to finish a story in it. Please to tell me where it is."
"I won't."