"Now, then," he went on presently, "you want me to give you certain information, and you want to put your hand upon that which might change the history of the nation. I have given you credit for some wit, young master, but do you think I am such a fool as to tell all this to a nameless boy, because he dared to break in upon my privacy?"
"Well, what would you, Master Pycroft?" said I, for I saw that he had sense on his side. If a bargain was to be made it could not be all on one side. My work was to learn all I could from him, without placing my future in his power.
"I would know this. First, your name and history. Second, the reason which led you to come hither. And third—nay, that is all. Answer me those fully, and you will have answered all I wish to know."
"And if I do?" I responded. "What shall I gain?"
"That for which you have come," he replied eagerly.
"How do I know? Suppose I tell you what you ask, and you have sucked the orange dry—what then? Can I be sure you will tell me what I want to know? The confidence must be mutual, Master Pycroft."
"You have called me by name. Therefore what is there to tell you further?"
"How do I know that you are Master Pycroft? How do I know that you are not some other man, one perhaps a thousand times more dangerous?"
A ghastly pallor came over his face as I spoke. For the first time I had made him fear me. Rightly or wrongly, it came to me that he was not Elijah Pycroft at all, but a man who greatly feared his name becoming known.
"If I am to tell you who I am, tell me who you are," I replied. "If I am to tell you how I was led to believe that you have in your possession the king's marriage contract, you must tell me how you got hold of it. If I am to tell you how I learnt to know anything about the woman you call Constance, you must tell me what you know of her, ay, and the reason why the man believed to be Sir Charles Denman hath such power over her."