"I want you to help."
"I'll take my holly cudgel, and crack t' Frenchman's head."
Jeremy smiled grimly. He liked that kind of wrath.
"Hold up, David, that would not do at all. We have got a rotten plank to walk on and if we are too heavy it may break and let us down. Listen to me now. I have got something to trust you with."
Winter told him the truth about Stonehanger, and also how De Rothan held Jasper Benham a prisoner. David's eyes grew more and more astonished as he picked up these amazing facts from Jeremy's lips.
"Mr. Durrell in wid t' French! Bother my bones—I'm fair beat!"
"He's in with them no longer, David. We have got to outwit this rogue of a Frenchman. I want you to help us."
"Sure."
"I want you to go to the Brick House. Be as innocent as a lamb, and try to get a few words with your mistress. Tell her I know what has happened, that De Rothan's house is being watched, and that if she can help us from the inside, so much the better. Ask her to tell you which is the window of her room, and that three blinks of a candle or a lantern at night will stand for a signal."
David scratched his beard.