And Leech proceeded to detail Wilkinson's escape and the method of it in such correct and graphic terms that Wilkinson's eyes bulged wide with terror.
"How did you know?" gasped Wilkinson.
Leech crooked his forefinger.
"Because," he declared, "there's nothing new under the sun. The thing you did was done by a bank cashier in California ten years ago, and one of the few people who knew about it was myself. It's not down in the books. You thought it was new; I knew...."
They smoked in silence for a while, Wilkinson all the time staring at the other. Finally he spoke.
"Well, the jig is up, so far as you and I are concerned, and the question now is, what do you want of me?"
Leech hesitated a moment, before answering:
"I want a cool million to let you go."
Wilkinson grunted.
"When you told me you were the only man who knew, I figured out that was your game. But what about these chaps downstairs?"