The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-07-15
CHAPTER Xxx.
BARGAINING FOR INFORMATION.


CHAPTER Xxx.
BARGAINING FOR INFORMATION.
The little student looked keenly at
me to see how l would receive his state
ment He wished no doubt to estimate
the value of the information which he
professed to be able to give me by
watching the effect of his remark upon
the expression of my face.
l am afraid l added thousands Of
rubles to that estimated value simply
through my inability to control my
countenance.
Iwould have given worlds to appear
to remain Indifferent or incredulous or
what not, but was very young and
but poor actor to boot, and l gave my
hand away lavishly.
grew pale and red; I knew it. l
clutched the arms of my chair; l felt
choky and faint. Ny heart behaved
ridiculously and commenced to play
DEVILS tattoo within my breast. / could
not speak; believe / should have cried
if l had attempted it. Had this little
rascal really and truly important COM
munications to make concerning my
fatherH Could he possibly know any
thing' If SO, Andre was equally well
informed. Nay, father must be or must
have been, actually in the hands Of
these rascals, though why or for what
purpose they should have captured and
kept him I could not conceive
If this student could be brought over
into cur camp and made to tell us all
be knew, why, he would be worth al
most any money to us. Not only would
we learn perhaps priceless news about
my dear father. but we should, more
over, be able to score off Andre and
turn him at once, neck and crop, out
of the house; nay, perhaps have him go
completely in our power that We should
be enabled, by the help Of the police, to
get him quietly sent away to places
where he could no longer worry US by
bis presence, which, of course, we only
tolerated for moment in the hope Of
obtaining our quid pro quo in the form
of information about father.
What satisfaction it would be to do
without him altogether-hal How he
would fume and rage, the rascal, for
undoubtedly he fattered himself that
he had my mother and myself in the
hollow of his hand, as, indeed, he had
until this most fortunate rencounter Of
mine in mid.Neva with the well feast
ed and pride pulled little rascal in the
armchair herel All these thoughts
passed very quickly through my brain
as sat trying to regain control over
my features and my tongue before re-
plying to the student.
At last felt that I might attempt to
speak.
"What you have just said, began,
my voice sounding faint and far away
in my own ears. "makes me think that
you may possibly be in possession Of in
formation that is really valuable to us.
If it should prove 80, you will not re-
greet having confded it to me-.
"No, no; that is not business, he
laughed. "See here, this is the posi-
ton have vitality important news to
give you, news that concerns your ia.
ther and which you can obtain from
none but me.
"There's always Andre" blurted.
"Andre, for reasons of his own, and
mighty good ones, would never reveal
it to you-not though you fed and
pampered and housed and paid him for
years to come. You will understand
why when-and five have come to
terms and my secret becomes yours.
Very well, then. The position, say, is
this; am in possession of this informa-
tion. You, being dutiful son, are nat
urally DESTROYS of obtaining it. That is
point No. 1. Point No. 2: You chase
me (heaven knows why) into hole in
the ice, which in itself is enough to
close my lips forever, in SO far as con-
Germs the opening of the same to do you
any service; but, point No. 8, You pulled
me ont again. at some risk and with some
pluck, as I am ready to admit, which
reopens my lips to your advantage, if
point No. ~ you make it worth my
while to do SO, and point No. 81 since
my secret in itself is of some value. and
COY since l am running risks which you
little suspect in coming under your roof
and selling my secret to you, point 7
and last) l cannot possibly put the fig
ure down at less than 10, rubles"
would have given the sum named,
l think, to take the little rascal by the
shoulders from behind and to kick him
round the room until either he died or
l tired, but kept my temper and
showed little or no signs Of the rage
felt. 1t was his conceited manner that
angered me far more than the exorbi-
tance Of the sum he demanded for his
information.
To receive news which would set us
upon track which should ultimately
lead to the discovery Of my dear father
would gladly have paid ten times the
sum asked. But this little student wore
such detestable air as he spoke, and
was besides, such a consummate little
villain on the face Of him, that l would
have given worlds, as say, TO kick the
secret out Of him or garote him till he
was glad to save his neck by confessing
to his share Of the devilry that must
have been played with his connivance
upon my poor father.
"May consult my two friends and
my mother before answering your ques-
tom ! said as calmly as | could. /
don't think the calmness was very
striking, however.
Certainly not. Your mother and
the rest may agree afterward. This
matter is between you and me. Who
are your two friends, by the way9"
Zone is school friend, an English
man., l said, "and the other is Borof-
sky, whom you must have seen or heard
Of from your friend Andre"
"What That little fools The one
that brought Andre over and tried to
palm him off upoV you as Count Lam
drinof9 Tell him what you like, my
friend, afterward, But now, this mo-