By my
advice the truth has been carefully concealed from you up to this day. By
my advice the trap into which you have walked was set for you (you know
why, now, as well as I do) in this place. There was but one certain way
of shaking the devilish self-control which has hitherto made you a
formidable man. That way has been tried, and (look at me as you may)
that way has succeeded. The last thing that remains to be done,"
concluded Bintrey, producing two little slips of manuscript from his
despatch-box, "is to set your niece free. You have attempted murder, and
you have committed forgery and theft. We have the evidence ready against
you in both cases. If you are convicted as a felon, you know as well as
I do what becomes of your authority over your niece. Personally, I
should have preferred taking that way out of it. But considerations are
pressed on me which I am not able to resist, and this interview must end,
as I have told you already, in a compromise. Sign those lines, resigning
all authority over Miss Obenreizer, and pledging yourself never to be
seen in England or in Switzerland again; and I will sign an indemnity
which secures you against further proceedings on our part."
Obenreizer took the pen in silence, and signed his niece's release. On
receiving the indemnity in return, he rose, but made no movement to leave
the room. He stood looking at Maitre Voigt with a strange smile
gathering at his lips, and a strange light flashing in his filmy eyes.
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