Could he be convinced of
your part in distracting Miriam's gold from its legitimate channel,
believe me, he would turn his back on you forever! I know the man."
"Yet he saw me--he must have seen me--alter that word in the codocil to
my aunt's legacy--asking no explanation at the time, receiving none
thereafter."
"That was different; he thought it a piece of vainglory on your part
alone, amounting to nothing, if, indeed, he observed it at all. No, no,
Evelyn Erle! if you expect to carry out your views, you must aid me in
executing mine. I shall keep your secret from my son on no other
conditions. We are confederates or nothing in this matter, you see."
"And suppose, in return, I publish yours to the world," she suggested,
coolly; "brand you with baseness? What then, Basil Bainrothe--what
then?"
"You dare not!" was the prompt reply. "I hold written propositions of
yours on the subject--you have not a scratch of a pen of mine to show. I
should declare simply that you were a frustrated rogue, that is all. Who
could prove otherwise?" He laughed in his derisive way. There was a
bitter pause.
"What is it you want me to do?" she asked, hoarsely, at its expiration.
"State definitely what you exact from me in return for your
forbearance--your _honorable_ secrecy?" There was exquisite irony in her
tone.
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