These words came upon Max with a great shock. In the excitement of his
own adventures in this place, he had quite forgotten his friend, Dudley
Horne, and the errand which had first brought him into the neighborhood.
He had forgotten, also, what he had from the first only half
believed--the girl's words connecting Dudley with a murder committed
within those walls.

Now that the remembrance was thus abruptly brought back to him, he felt
as if he wanted to gasp for breath. Carrie watched him, and presently
made a sign to him to follow her. Scrambling out to the open space on
the wharf, she made for the spot close to the water where Max had stood
to watch the man whom Carrie had called "Dick."

When Max came up to her, the girl was standing close under the eaves of
the outhouse on the bank, leaning against the wall. He could scarcely
see anything of her face in the darkness, but he was struck by something
strangely moving in the tones of her voice as she broke the silence.

"Look here," she said, "I want you to make me a promise. Come, it ought
not to be difficult; for I got you out of a nice mess; remember that.
You've got to give me your word that you will say nothing about your
adventures to-day, either to the police or to anybody else."

"I can't promise that. And why on earth do you want me to do so? Surely
you can have no real sympathy with the people who do the things that are
done in there--"

Carrie interrupted him, breaking in upon him abruptly: