Nevertheless, Lynne knew thoroughly well the character of the man who threatened him.
A coward to the backbone, he was none the less dangerous with the power in his possession, as it now was, to murder a defenseless man; and again, this man, without a single trait of character that made for good, understood perfectly well the character of the man in the bed; knew that he could accept that man’s word, and that if given, it would be kept.
And so, with the pistol in his hand, he demanded such a promise, on pain of death.
Put yourself in such a place for a moment, in thought, and consider what you would do under such circumstances.
Suppose yourself to be as yet barely convalescent after a long and severe illness, with all your strength sapped and gone, and with no physical ability to cope with such a person as Red Mike.
What would you do, if, being the possessor of many millions, you were awakened from your sleep under just such conditions?
The answer is obvious, of course.
You, and I, and nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of every thousand would give the required promise readily enough, and as readily break it, convinced that a promise given under such conditions cannot be a sacred one, and should therefore not be kept.
But not so Carleton Lynne.
Red Mike was well aware of the one weakness of this new master of millions, and he was smart enough to play upon it—for it is a weakness to have set up one principle on a pedestal, and to have sworn that no sort of condition would ever compel a departure from it.