“Some men think it’s worse,” replied Gorman, with a savage grin; “but you’ve no need to fear. If you only take the right precautions it’s impossible to find it out, an’ I’ll engage to put ye up to doin’ it in such a way that there won’t be a scrap the size of a sixpence left to convict you. Only put a bold face on it and the thing’s done, and your fortune made as well as mine.”
The man’s voice and manner softened a little as he said this, for he thought he perceived symptoms of wavering in his tenant, who covered his face with his large thin hands and sighed deeply.
“Come, don’t be hard on me,” he said at length; “I really haven’t got courage to go through with this. Only give me a little more time, and I’ll—”
“Very good,” interrupted Gorman, with an oath, as he rose and dashed his pipe into fragments on the hearth; “if you won’t burn yourself out o’ this scrape.”
“Hush! hush, man!” said Boone in a hoarse whisper; “not so loud; my lad will hear you. Come, I’ll think of it.”
“Will you do it?” demanded the other fiercely. “You know the alternative if you don’t?”
“Ruination?”
“Exactly so; and that without delay.”
“Ruination either way,” murmured Boone sadly to himself, as though he were counting the cost.
“Tut, man,” said his landlord, becoming more gentle, “it’s nothing of the sort. If you only take my advice, it’ll be a jolly blaze, which, instead of ending in smoke will end in some thousands of pounds and commencing business again on fresh capital. Come, I’ve not got time to waste with you. There’s no escape for you, so you’d better say yes, else I’ll go and have a talk with a legal friend of mine who is used to screwing gold out of most unpromising mines.”