the person I was assailing, the strictest secrecy was necessary. I didn't even inform the kind friend who finances us what I was about. I didn't even tell Crow of my movements, though I had informed him that something out of the common was in view.

“However, with the appearance of that man whom you now see convicted as a traitor, there was introduced into our affairs a certain element—treachery and suspicion.

“One never knows,” Melun went on with calm mendacity, “of what one may be accused; and I therefore took the precaution to inform at least one of you of what I was about, lest it should be charged against me that I was playing the rest of you false.

“The man to whom I spoke of this matter was Patmore. Patmore, be good enough to stand up.”

Patmore rose and glanced uneasily at his chief.

“Be so kind as to repeat, as accurately as you can, what I told you,” Melun ordered him.

Patmore began to speak rapidly, and with what, to a keen observer, might have seemed a somewhat parrot-like air.

“You told me,” he said, looking at Melun,[Pg 139] “that this was a matter of blackmail.”

[Pg 139]

He spoke quite unblushingly, as though such a business was an every-day affair, which, as a matter of fact, it was.

“You told me,” he continued, “that the person to be blackmailed occupied a high position in the State, and that it was so necessary for him to purchase our silence that he would pay practically any price.

“You mentioned a quarter of a million, of which you yourself proposed to take fifty thousand pounds, dividing the rest of the money among us. You also took the oath of the club before me and declared that whatever might be said to the contrary you were determined to play fair.

“You further said that it was absolutely impossible to reveal any details of the scheme to me, as, should anyone know of the matter besides yourself, discovery would be inevitable.

“In fact, you declared that it was the most difficult, and at the same time the boldest, piece of work that you had ever attempted.”

Patmore stopped abruptly in his recitation.

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