The Secret of the Tower by Anthony Hope
page 70 of 195 (35%)
page 70 of 195 (35%)
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to the two men talking in a corner. Yet the stranger lowered his voice
to a whisper, as he added: "From me to you fifty quid on account; from you to me just a sight of the place where they put it." Sergeant Hooper drank, smoked, and pondered. The stranger showed the edge of a roll of notes, protruding it from his breast-pocket. The Sergeant nodded, he understood that part. But there was much that he did not understand. "It fair beats me what the blazes they're doing it _for_," he broke out. "Whose money would it be?" "The old blighter's, o' course. Boomery's stony, except for his screw." He looked hard at the gentlemanly stranger, and a slow smile came on his lips, "That's your idea, is it, mister?" "Gentleman's old, looks frail, might go off suddenly. What then? Friends turn up, always do when you're dead, you know. Well, what of it? Less money in the funds than was reckoned; dear old gentleman doesn't cut up as well as they hoped! And meanwhile our friend B----! Does it dawn on you at all, from our friend B----'s point of view, Sergeant? I may be wrong, but that's my provisional conjecture. The question remains how he's got the old gent into the game, doesn't it?" Precisely the point to which the Sergeant's mind also had turned! The knowledge which he possessed--that half of the secret--and which his companion did not, might be very material to a solution of the problem; the Sergeant did not mean to share it prematurely, without necessity, or |
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