"I brought them just as they were," she went on to explain. "You may break the seals, scratch off my name, and then they will be yours to do with as you please."
"For the present," Murgatroyd told himself, as his eyes fell on the vault door, "that will be their resting place." And turning to her, he said aloud:—
"The deal is closed. You understand the terms? Everything is left to me—I am to free your husband—I am to keep your money?"
"Yes," she breathed, as if some heavy burden had rolled from her young shoulders.
And now for the first time Murgatroyd looked Miriam Challoner full in the face, and said solemnly:—
"One thing more: absolutely no one must know of this. Not Challoner, nor Thorne, and above all, not Miss Bloodgood. Everything depends on your silence—your silence is the essence of this contract. You agree?"
Mrs. Challoner bowed.
"I do." And she might have been taking an oath from the way she said it.
"Remember you will say nothing to Miss Bloodgood...."
"Shirley will never know of it."