Mrs. Challoner smiled while the tears trickled down her cheeks.
"I shall get you the hundred thousand dollars right away," she said, as if it were a mere bagatelle.
"Just one moment, please," continued Murgatroyd, waving her back into her seat, for she had risen. "I shall set your husband free for eight hundred and sixty thousand dollars!"
Miriam Challoner leaned back in her chair. She seemed to hesitate.
"For everything I have!" she muttered half aloud.
Murgatroyd reached over and touched her on the arm, and repeated in the same tone:—
"Everything you have!" And added: "Surely you did not think that I would sell myself for less?"
"No, no, of course not," she faltered. "I wish I had millions to give you. You are a good man—you are doing a good act."
Murgatroyd shook his head and said somewhat impatiently:—
"Mrs. Challoner, this is a business transaction; let us close it. You can get those securities to-day, I suppose?"