But have
you considered what the probable result would be?"
"It would keep you out of mischief for a time, at any rate."
"Not for a day," he answered softly. "In the first place, the slenderness
of your evidence, which, by the by, when the affair came to trial would
disappear altogether, would necessitate bail; and, in the second, were I
to be swept off the face of the earth, there are thousands ready to take
my place. Besides, no man likes to make himself the laughing stock of his
friends and the press; and, forgive me, Mr. Courage, if I remind you that
that is precisely what would happen in your case."
"Suppose, for a moment, then," said, "that I abandon that possibility.
Make your own proposals. I do not know who you are or what you stand for.
I do not know whether this is an affair of private vengeance, or whether
you stand for others. That poor fellow upstairs cannot have a long life
before him in any case. What is there we can offer you to leave him in
peace?"
"You two--nothing," Mr. Stanley said gravely. "He himself can buy his
life from us, if he wills.
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