‘That is the only way in which he can be safe, I am afraid.’

‘You would not use a girl against her own father?’

‘I would sooner die where I sit,’ said Merton earnestly.  ’Surely you can trust a friend of Mr. Logan’s—­who, by the bye, is very well.’

‘Oh, oh,’ cried the girl, ’I read that story of the stolen corpse in the papers.  I understand!’

‘It was almost inevitable that you should understand,’ said Merton.

‘But then,’ said the girl, ’what did you mean by saying that my father has done you a great service.  You are deceiving me.  I have said too much.  This is base!’ Miss Markham rose, her eyes and cheeks burning.

‘What I told you is the absolute and entire truth,’ said Merton, nearly as red as she was.

‘Then,’ exclaimed Miss Markham, ’this is baser yet!  You must mean that by doing what you think he has done my father has somehow enabled Robert—­Mr. Logan—­to come into the marquis’s property.  Perhaps the marquis left no will, or the will—­is gone!  And do you believe that Mr. Logan will thank you for acting in this way?’ She stood erect, her hand resting on the back of a chair, indignant and defiant.

’In the first place, I have a written power from Mr. Logan to act as I think best.  Next, I have not even informed myself as to how the law of Scotland stands in regard to the estate of a man who dies leaving no will.  Lastly, Miss Markham, I am extremely hampered by the fact that Mr. Logan has not the remotest suspicion of what I suspected—­and now know—­to be the truth as to the disappearance of his cousin’s body.  I successfully concealed my idea from Mr. Logan, so as to avoid giving pain to him and you.  I did my best to conceal it from you, though I never expected to succeed.  And now, if you wish to know how your father has conferred a benefit on Mr. Logan, I must tell you, though I would rather be silent.  Mr. Logan is aware of the benefit, but will never, if you can trust yourself, suspect his benefactor.’

‘I can never, never see him again,’ the girl sobbed.

‘Time is flying,’ said Merton, who was familiar, in works of fiction, with the situation indicated by the girl.  ‘Can you trust me, or not?’ he asked, ’My single object is secrecy and your father’s safety.  I owe that to my friend, to you, and even, as it happens, to your father.  Can you enable me, dressed as I am, to have an interview with him?’

’You will not hurt him?  You will not give him up?  You will not bring the police on him?’

’I am acting as I do precisely for the purpose of keeping the police off him.  They have discovered nothing.’

The girl gave a sigh of relief.

’Your father’s only danger would lie in my—­failure to return from my interview with him.  Against that I cannot safeguard him; it is fair to tell you so.  But my success in persuading him to adopt a certain course would be equally satisfactory to Mr. Logan and to himself.’