Those are my reasons." It took a good deal to astonish Nicol Hendry, but he was considerably astonished now.

Yet it was impossible to have the remotest doubt of Franklin Marmion's absolute earnestness.

But why should he of all men on earth want to unravel the Zastrow mystery?
What interest save the merest curiosity could he have in the matter?
And yet he was by no means the sort of man to be merely curious.

The very strangeness of his proposition half-convinced him that there must be some other very strong reason underlying those which he had given.

Again, he was to be perfectly trusted, so no harm could be done trying to discover if this was so, since if he could help he would do so loyally.