"If I were to disappear suddenly," he resumed, "suspicion, if it took a definite shape, would fall on me. You would not be thought of in the matter."
He paused again, observing his companion keenly but stealthily. He was not able to look her fully in the face.
"Speak out plainly," said Mrs. Dinneford, with visible impatience.
"Plainly, then, madam," returned Freeling, changing his whole bearing toward her, and speaking as one who felt that he was master of the situation, "it has come to this: I shall have to break up and leave the city, or there will be a new trial in which you and I will be the accused. Now, self-preservation is the first law of nature. I don"t mean to go to the State"s prison if I can help it. What I am now debating are the chances in my favor if Granger gets a pardon, and then makes an effort to drive us to the wall, which he most surely will. I have settled it so far--"
Mrs. Dinneford leaned toward him with an anxious expression on her countenance, waiting for the next sentence. But Freeling did not go on.
"How have you settled it?" she demanded, trembling as she spoke with the excitement of suspense.
"That I am not going to the wall if I can help it."
"How will you help it?"
"I have an accomplice;" and this time he was able to look at Mrs.
Dinneford with such a fixed and threatening gaze that her eyes fell.
"You have?" she questioned, in a husky voice.
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Mrs. Helen Dinneford. And do you think for a moment that to save myself I would hesitate to sacrifice her?"
The lady"s face grew white. She tried to speak, but could not.
"I am talking plainly, as you desired, madam," continued Freeling.
"You led me into this thing. It was no scheme of mine; and if more evil consequences are to come, I shall do my best to save my own head. Let the hurt go to where it rightfully belongs."
"What do you mean?" Mrs. Dinneford tried to rally herself.
"Just this," was answered: "if I am dragged into court, I mean to go in as a witness, and not as a criminal. At the first movement toward an indictment, I shall see the district attorney, whom I know very well, and give him such information in the case as will lead to fixing the crime on you alone, while I will come in as the princ.i.p.al witness. This will make your conviction certain."
"Devil!" exclaimed Mrs. Dinneford, her white face convulsed and her eyes starting from their sockets with rage and fear. "Devil!" she repeated, not able to control her pa.s.sion.
"Then you know me," was answered, with cool self-possession, "and what you have to expect."
Neither spoke for a considerable time. Up to this period they had been alone in the parlor. Guests of the house now came in and took seats near them. They arose and walked the floor for a little while, still in silence, then pa.s.sed into an adjoining parlor that happened to be empty, and resumed the conference.
"This is a last resort," remarked Freeling, softening his voice as they sat down--"a card that I do not wish to play, and shall not if I can help it. But it is best that you should know that it is in my hand. If there is any better way of escape, I shall take it."
"You spoke of going away," said Mrs. Dinneford.
"Yes. But that involves a great deal."
"What?"
"The breaking up of my business, and loss of money and opportunities that I can hardly hope ever to regain."
"Why loss of money?"
"I shall have to wind up hurriedly, and it will be impossible to collect more than a small part of my outstanding claims. I shall have to go away under a cloud, and it will not be prudent to return. Most of these claims will therefore become losses. The amount of capital I shall be able to take will not be sufficient to do more than provide for a small beginning in some distant place and under an a.s.sumed name. On the other hand, if I remain and fight the thing through, as I have no doubt I can, I shall keep my business and my place in society here--hurt, it may be, in my good name, but still with the main chance all right. But it will be hard for you. If I pa.s.s the ordeal safely, you will not. And the question to consider is whether you can make it to my interest to go away, to drop out of sight, injured in fortune and good name, while you go unscathed. You now have it all in a nutsh.e.l.l. I will not press you to a decision to-day. Your mind is too much disturbed. To-morrow, at noon, I would like to see you again."
Freeling made a motion to rise, but Mrs. Dinneford did not stir.
"Perhaps," he said, "you decide at once to let things take their course.
Understand me, I am ready for either alternative. The election is with yourself."
Mrs. Dinneford was too much stunned by all this to be able to come to any conclusion. She seemed in the maze of a terrible dream, full of appalling reality. To wait for twenty-four hours in this state of uncertainty was more than her thoughts could endure. And yet she must have time to think, and to get command of her mental resources.
"Will you be disengaged at five o"clock?" she asked.
"Yes."
"I will be here at five."
"Very well."
Mrs. Dinneford arose with a weary air.
"I shall want to hear from you very explicitly," she said. "If your demand is anywhere in the range of reason and possibility, I may meet it. If outside of that range, I shall of course reject it. It is possible that you may not hold all the winning cards--in fact, I know that you do not."
"I will be here at five," said Freeling.
"Very well. I shall be on time."
And they turned from each other, pa.s.sing from the parlor by separate doors.
CHAPTER XII.
_ONE_ morning, about two weeks later, Mr. Freeling did not make his appearance at his place of business as usual. At ten o"clock a clerk went to the hotel where he boarded to learn the cause of his absence. He had not been there since the night before. His trunks and clothing were all in their places, and nothing in the room indicated anything more than an ordinary absence.
Twelve o"clock, and still Mr. Freeling had not come to the store. Two or three notes were to be paid that day, and the managing-clerk began to feel uneasy. The bank and check books were in a private drawer in the fireproof of which Mr. Freeling had the key. So there was no means of ascertaining the balances in bank.
At one o"clock it was thought best to break open the private drawer and see how matters stood. Freeling kept three bank-accounts, and it was found that on the day before he had so nearly checked out all the balances that the aggregate on deposit was not over twenty dollars. In looking back over these bank-accounts, it was seen that within a week he had made deposits of over fifty thousand dollars, and that most of the checks drawn against these deposits were in sums of five thousand dollars each.
At three o"clock he was still absent. His notes went to protest, and on the next day his city creditors took possession of his effects. One fact soon became apparent--he had been paying the rogue"s game on a pretty liberal scale, having borrowed on his checks, from business friends and brokers, not less than sixty or seventy thousand dollars. It was estimated, on a thorough examination of his business, that he had gone off with at least a hundred thousand dollars. To this amount Mrs.
Dinneford had contributed from her private fortune the sum of twenty thousand dollars. Not until she had furnished him with that large amount would he consent to leave the city. He magnified her danger, and so overcame her with terrors that she yielded to his exorbitant demand.
On the day a public newspaper announcement of Freeling"s rascality was made, Mrs. Dinneford went to bed sick of a nervous fever, and was for a short period out of her mind.
Neither Mr. Dinneford nor Edith had failed to notice a change in Mrs.