"Now, Mr. Frank," says I, "I can't have any sentimentality mixed
up with business matters. You please to stop talking, and let me
ask questions. Answer in the fewest words you can use. Nod when
nodding will do instead of words."
I fixed him with my eye for about three seconds, as he sat
groaning and wriggling in his chair. When I'd done fixing him, I
gave another rap with my paper-knife on the table to startle him
up a bit. Then I went on.
"From what you have been stating up to the present time," says I,
"I gather that you are in a scrape which is likely to interfere
seriously with your marriage on Wednesday?"
(He nodded, and I cut in again before he could say a word):
"The scrape affects your young lady, and goes back to the period
of a transaction in which her late father was engaged, doesn't
it?"
(He nods, and I cut in once more):
"There is a party, who turned up after seeing the announcement of
your marriage in the paper, who is cognizant of what he oughtn't
to know, and who is prepared to use his knowledge of the same to
the prejudice of the young lady and of your marriage, unless he
receives a sum of money to quiet him? Very well. Now, first of
all, Mr. Frank, state what you have been told by the young lady
herself about the transaction of her late father. How did you
first come to have any knowledge of it?"
"She was talking to me about her father one day so tenderly and
prettily, that she quite excited my interest about him," begins
Mr.
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