"And for saving you he exacts his black mail."
"Little blame to him for it," returned Sir Adam, with a half laugh.
"I believe that the man is keeping you here," continued Karl; "that you dare not go away unless he lifts his finger."
"Naturally he is anxious for my safety, Karl; for the sake of his own self-interest."
"Precisely so. He would rather keep you here in danger than suffer you to escape to freedom. Do you know anything of his antecedents?"
"Nothing. For all I can tell, as to who or what the man was before that night he rescued me, he might have dropped from the moon."
"And since then it has been the business of your life to conciliate him, Adam!"
"What would you? The man knows that I am Adam Andinnian: and, knowing it, he holds a sword over me. Is it worth my while, or not, to try to keep it from falling?"
Karl sighed deeply. He saw all the intricacies of the case; and, what was worse, he saw no outlet from them. If only he could but feel that his brother was passably safe at the Maze, he would have been less uneasy: but a secret instinct, that he surely believed was a prevision, warned him of danger.
"I wish, with my whole heart, Adam, that you had never come here!" broke from him, in his dire perplexity, the reiterated cry.