Your task is
absolutely hopeless!"
"It should not be," Barrington persisted. "This is one of those rare
cases, in which anything is justifiable. Seton had his chance at the
trial. He chose to keep silence. I do not praise him or blame him for
that. It was the only course open to a man of honor. I maintain that
his silence then binds him to silence for ever. He has no right to
ruin my life and the happiness of my wife by subtle threats, to hold
those foolish letters over our heads, like a thunderbolt held ever in
suspense. You are ambitious, I believe, Mr. Aynesworth! Get me those
letters, and I will make you my secretary, find you a seat in
Parliament, and anything else in reason that you will!"
Aynesworth rose to his feet. He wished to intimate that, so far as he
was concerned, the interview was at an end.
"Your proposition, Mr. Barrington," he said, "is absolutely
impossible. In the first place, I have no idea where the letters in
question are, and Sir Wingrave is never likely to suffer them to pass
into my charge."
"You have opportunities of finding out," Barrington suggested.
"And secondly," Aynesworth continued, ignoring the interruption,
"whatever the right or the wrong of this matter may be, I am in
receipt of a salary from Sir Wingrave Seton, and I cannot betray his
confidence."
Barrington also rose to his feet. He was beginning to recognize the
hopelessness of his task.
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