Suddenly it dawned upon Aarons that there was something sinister in the situation; a woman like the Viscountess Brooke was not the friend of such a miserable wretch for mere kindliness. He felt that whatever the price, he must know the whole truth, if this man could be induced to tell it.
"Will you take twenty guineas for your fine secret?" he asked with a sneer.
"No, but I'll take fifty and give you full value," said Goodridge. "I haven't the proofs here, but I'll tell you the secret for half the money and you shall give me the rest, when I give you the proofs. It's a loss to me," he half-whimpered, "for if I kept the secret and used it right, I might live well on it as long as it remained a secret."
Aarons counted out twenty-five gold coins upon the table, and covered them with his hand. "Now," he said, "there is half your price, and if you can give me a satisfactory reason why Sir Geoffrey Beaudesert can not, by any possibility, marry Lady Prudence Brooke, that money is yours, and as much more when I have your proofs. But if you are deceiving me, beware! I am not a man to be trifled with."
"Sir Geoffrey Beaudesert can not marry Lady Prudence Brooke for the very good reason that she is already married," Goodridge whispered, leaning across the table with his mouth at Aarons' ear.
The usurer started back and his face became black with fury. "Lady Prudence married!" he exclaimed.
"Sh-sh-sh!" Goodridge glanced round apprehensively; "don't blurt it out for the whole town to hear. Yes, she is married. I myself performed the ceremony."
"You performed the ceremony!" muttered Aarons, with increasing anger and amazement. "Tell me the whole story; whom did she marry, and when?"
"Is it worth the money?" asked Goodridge, leering at his scowling face. Aarons pushed the twenty-five guineas across the table with quick impatience, and the other picked them up, counted them and stowed them in his pocket, before continuing.
"I married her less than a week ago," he then went on. "The wedding took place in Newgate Prison, and the bridegroom was Robin Freemantle, the highwayman. Now you know as much as I do."