"Yes. Why do you ask?"
Mrs. Challoner wrung her hands; she seemed uncertain how to proceed. In
the end she said:--
"I am going to do a terrible thing. It frightens me almost to death. I
don't know how to begin, but my love for Laurie is my excuse for what I
have to say. I hope you won't misunderstand me. Supposing Shirley was in
Laurie's place--if she were accused of crime, what wouldn't you do for
her?"
"The cases are hardly parallel," he answered indifferently.
"They are precisely parallel," she maintained. "You love Shirley as I
love Laurie--I know you do. Don't say no--women have a way of knowing
those things." Her eyes sought his for confirmation. "Am I not right?"
"I would do anything to win her," he spoke up quickly; evidently she
took the rest for granted, for she continued to persevere:--
"I know that you have great ambitions; and with such a girl at your side
there is no reason why you should not become a great man."
This sudden interest on her part in matters concerning his future, for
the moment rattled him. Nevertheless, he was conscious of a decided
sensation of relief that the conversation had taken its present course;
and her words: "With such a girl at your side" found a welcome in his
heart. On her part, Mrs. Challoner was becoming more and more composed.
And now in a voice that seemed to him ringing with conviction, she went
on:--
"You will have up-hill work, I know. Your party is against you and all
that sort of thing; but if only for Shirley's sake, I want you--you must
succeed!"
For some reason which he did not attempt to explain Murgatroyd found
himself actually confessing to this woman that he thought he deserved to
win out.
"It's only money that you lack, I know," she ventured now. "With money
they couldn't keep you down. With money of your own--" she stopped
abruptly; the tension was getting too much for her. Presently she cried
out: "Oh, Mr. Murgatroyd, don't you see what I mean, and won't you help
me?"
But he failed to understand her meaning, and was obliged to ask her to
explain herself. He was staring hard at her now.
And then at last it came out.
"Only this, Mr. Murgatroyd," she said, meeting his gaze. "I will give
you one hundred thousand dollars to set my husband free!"
Murgatroyd instantly sprang to his feet.
"You mean to bribe me!"
Miriam Challoner cowered before him. She had not put the matter to him
in quite the way she had intended. She was desperately afraid that she
had destroyed all hope of success by blurting it out like this. "Please
don't be hard on me--condemn me," she begged as one before the judgment
seat. "I know it's awful!"
For a full half minute Murgatroyd fastened his gaze on her face. Then he
walked to the door, stepped inside the vault and satisfied himself that
there was no one there, looked into every corner of the room and
underneath the table; and when at last he was convinced that he had
taken every precaution, he came back and stood directly in front of the
woman and told her to repeat what she had said.