"Be silent and listen. I retain these papers-first, because Jasper
Losely must not know that they ever passed to my hands; secondly, because
you must inflict no injury on Losely himself. Betray me to him, or try
to render himself up to the law, and the documents will be used against
you ruthlessly. Obey, and you have nothing to fear, and nothing to pay.
When Jasper Losely calls on you tomorrow, ask him to show you the
letters. He cannot; he will make excuses. Decline peremptorily, but not
insultingly (his temper is fierce), to pay him farther. He will perhaps
charge you with having hired some one to purloin his pocket-book; let him
think it. Stop--your window here opens on the ground--a garden without:
--Ah! have three of the police in that garden, in sight of the window.
Point to them if he threaten you; summon them to your aid, or pass out to
them, if he actually attempt violence. But when he has left the house,
you must urge no charge against him; he must be let off unscathed. You
can be at no loss for excuse in this mercy; a friend of former times--
needy, unfortunate, whom habits of drink maddened for the moment--
necessary to eject him--inhuman to prosecute--any story you please. The
next day you can, if you choose, leave London for a short time; I advise
it. But his teeth will be drawn; he will most probably never trouble you
again. I know his character. There, I have done; open the door, sir."




CHAPTER IX.

THE WRECK AND THE LIFE-BOAT IN A FOG.

The next day, a little after noon, Jasper Losely, coming back from
Alhambra Villa--furious, desperate, knowing not where to turn for bread,