'I will leave you alone,' said Alice, taking up the child.
'No, Madam, no, I would rather that you heard. You may advise. Oh! Madam, I never thought the day would come that I should reveal my master's secrets. I eat his bread; I take his wages: and I am come here to betray his most private affairs.'
'Then do not betray them, Mr. Ramage,' said Alice. 'Follow your own conscience.'
'It ought to be your bread and your wages, Mr. Will, and would have been but for tales and inventions. Sir, in a word, there is villainy afloat——'
'What kind of villainy?'
'I know all they do. Sir, there is that sum of one hundred thousand pounds in the hands of trustees, payable to the survivor of you two. That is the bottom of the whole villainy. Well, they are mad to make you sell your chance.'
'I know that.'
'Mr. Matthew, more than a year ago, offered Mr. Probus a thousand pounds if he could persuade you to sell it for three thousand.'
'That is why he was so eager.' This was exactly how Jenny read the business.
'Yes, he reported that you would not sell, he said that if it was made worth his while, he would find a way to make you.'