[CHAPTER XVII.]
"I have a proposition to make to you," Vane says, after he has conversed with Mr. Langton awhile on indifferent subjects.
Mr. Langton, lying on his couch, looking dull and weary, glances up with some interest.
"Well?" he says, abruptly.
"I saw your physician to-day," Vane observes, slightly embarrassed. "He thinks it would be at the risk of your health if you left this place under a month."
"The rascal! He's keeping me here to swell his fee for attendance, that's all," groans the millionaire; "well, and what has that to do with your proposition, eh?"
"A great deal. You know your delay in returning to America is attended with serious risk to Maud Langton, languishing in prison, and waiting for a release that cannot come until she regains possession of that note that is to prove her innocence."
"I have urged Reine to return alone, but she is unwilling to leave me," Mr. Langton answers, hastily.