"Your sister is very fond of you, and--I think I have one or two arguments to put forward which she would recognise as uncommonly strong." The colour which had been returning slowly to Maurice Gordon's face now faded away again.

His lips were dry and shrivelled as if he had passed through a sirocco.
"Mind," continued Durnovo reassuringly, "I don't say I would use them unless I suspected that you were acting in opposition to my wishes." Gordon said nothing.

His heart was throbbing uncomfortably--it seemed to be in his throat.
"I would not bring forward those arguments except as a last resource," went on Victor Durnovo, with the deliberate cruelty of a tyrant.

"I would first point out the advantages; a fourth share in the Simiacine scheme would make you a rich man--above suspicion--independent of the gossip of the market-place." Maurice Gordon winced visibly, and his eyes wavered as if he were about to give way to panic.
"You could retire and go home to England--to a cooler climate.

This country might get too hot for your constitution--see ?" Durnovo came back into the centre of the room and stood by the writing-table.