am in earnest!" cried Saurin, his suppressed
rage bursting out. "Why, I would cut your dirty throat if--" He
restrained himself and said, "Fetch the paper if you mean to; I cannot
breathe the same air as a man who has threatened me, and I won't stand
bargaining here a minute longer."

Josiah Slam knew when he had got his victim in a corner, and desperate
to biting pitch; so without another word he fetched the I O U and gave
it to Saurin, who simultaneously handed him _two sovereigns and four
half-sovereigns_. The fellow took it with a chuckle, for he had never
had the slightest intention of getting himself into trouble, which he
assuredly would by attempting to make any use of that bit of paper.
Call upon Dr Jolliffe indeed, to get a couple of school-boys, whom he
had fleeced, into a shindy! Not worth the trouble for him, indeed. But
it occurred to him that the threat might bring cash, and it had.

"Won't yer come in and have something?"

"Let me out!"

"Well, if you must go, here you are. Good-bye, young gent, and better
luck next time. And if when yer goes racing, yer wants--" Saurin was
out of hearing.

"Bless 'em," continued Mr Slam, junior, "I should like to know a few
more like them two young gents a good bit richer. Well, they are about
somewhere, if one could but light on 'em."

Saurin did not return to Weston at once, but walked as fast as he could
put foot to ground along the lanes and the highroad, trying by physical
exertion to numb thought, and he partly succeeded, now and then, for a
short time, but black care soon caught him up again, and brooded over
his shoulder.

A voice which did not seem to emanate from his own brain kept repeating,
"What you have done can never be undone; never, never. Not if you live
to be a hundred; not for all eternity." "It can, it shall," he replied.
"Only let me escape suspicion, and I will make it up over and over
again." "That would not make what has happened, not to have happened."
"It is only one act." "Self-deceiver, you have been growing to it for
years, your corruption has been gradual, and this is the natural result.
You will go on now; each time it will come easier to you, until you
grow to think nothing of it. Read your future--outcast, jail-bird."
"No, no; I will lead a new life, work hard, avoid bad company." "Avoid
bad company! I like that! What company can be worse than your own
_now_?" "I will _not_ sink deeper; no one knows." "You forg