"This is the principal thing. I may have occasion to use you again; if I do, I shall not hesitate to call upon you. You are in my confidence now."
"Will you tell me, then, where the Ben Nevis is bound? I may want to find her, for I haven't much taste for the old navy now."
"Ah, you make better progress than I anticipated. She is bound to St. Marks."
This was a lie, as Somers well knew.
"Coles and Langdon said she was to make Mobile."
"The plan was changed. You must not lay much stress on what you heard that night. It was all a blind,—or most of it was."
"Indeed?"
"The conversation at the house in Front Street was carried on for your especial benefit," added Pillgrim, laughing and rubbing his hands. "Langdon wrote both letters about the wounded sailor; there was no such person. The old woman that kept the house was in my pay. When I spoke so warmly in your praise to Langdon, I knew that you were listening to all I said; indeed, I said it to you rather than to Langdon."
"Why did you tell me beforehand, if you intended to catch me with the treasonable offer?" asked Somers, rather mortified to learn that he had been duped from the beginning.
"I knew you would pretend to accept it. All I wanted was to get you to take the commission, orders, and oath. As you agreed to sign the latter, Langdon did it for you, for I could not wait."