“I am proposing that you should allow me to retain you on my own behalf and that of other interested parties to go thoroughly into this case.”
“With what object?”
“With the object of bringing to light the real facts connected with the death of Harold Monkhouse.”
“Are you authorized by any of the interested parties to make this proposal?”
“No; and perhaps I had better leave them out and make the proposal on my own account only.”
He did not reply immediately but sat looking at me steadily with a rather inscrutable expression which I found a little disturbing. At length he spoke, with unusual deliberation and emphasis.
“Are you sure, Mayfield, that you want the real facts brought to light?”
I stared at him, startled and a good deal taken aback by his question, and especially by the tone in which it was put.
“But, surely,” I stammered, in reply. “Why not?”
“Don’t be hasty, Mayfield,” said he. “Reflect calmly and impartially before you commit yourself to any course of action of which you cannot foresee the consequences. Perhaps I can help you. Shall we, without prejudice and without personal bias, take a survey of the status quo and try to see exactly where we stand?”