to help me to hold up my hands, may I drop them? The
attitude, though reassuring, is fatiguing.'

'If you won't mind first allowing me to remove your muff,' said the
doctor. It lay on the table in front of Merton.

'By all means, no gun in my muff,' said Merton. 'In fact I think the
whole pistol business is overdone, and second rate.'

'I presume that I have the honour to speak to Mr. Merton?' asked the
doctor. 'You slipped through the cordon?'

'Yes, I was the intoxicated miner,' said Merton. 'No doubt you have
received a report from your agents?'

'Stupid fellows,' said the doctor.

'You are not flattering to me, but let us come to business. How much?'

'I need hardly ask,' said the doctor, 'it would be an insult to your
intelligence, whether you have taken the usual precautions?'

Merton, whose chair was tilted, threw himself violently backwards,
upsetting his chair, and then scrambled nimbly to his feet. Between him
and the table yawned a square black hole of unknown depth.

'Hardly fair, Dr. Melville,' said he, picking up the chair, and placing
it on the carpet, 'besides, I _have_ taken the ordinary precautions. The
house is surrounded--Ned Mahony's lambs--the usual statement is in the
safe of a friend. We must really come to the point. Time is flying,'
and he looked at his watch. 'I can give you twenty minutes.'

'Have you anything in the way of terms to propose?' asked the doctor,
filling his pipe.

'Well, first, absolute secrecy. I alone know the state of the case.'

'Has Mr. Logan no guess?'

'Not the faintest suspicion. The detectives, when I left Kirkburn, had
not even found the trap door, you understand. You hit on its discovery
through knowing the priest's hole at Oxburgh Hall, I suppose?'

The doctor nodded.

'You can guarantee absolute secrecy?' he asked.

'Naturally, the knowledge is confined to me, you, and your partners. I
want the secrecy in Mr. Logan's interests, and you know why.'

'Well,' said the doctor, 'that is point one. So far I am with you.'

'Then, to enter on odious details,' said Merton, 'had you thought of any
terms?'

'The old man was stiff,' said the doctor, 'and your side only offered to
double him in your advertisement, you know.'

'That was merely a way of speaking,' said Merton. 'What did the marquis
propose?'

'Well, as his offer is not a basis of negotiation?'

'Certainly not,' said Merton.

'Five hundred he offered, out of which we wer