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Rh "Listen!" she went on in a low, hoarse whisper, glancing towards the door. "It is true—true what you have surmised. I—I confess it to you. Ah! the horror of it all! But I can bear this life no longer. Henry has driven me to desperation. Quick, there's no time to lose if we are to come to an arrangement—a purely business arrangement," and she paused, suddenly growing quite calm. "You have the tube of serum in your bag. What is its price. Dr. d'Escombe?" she whispered.

I was taken aback. She had fallen into the net more quickly than I had anticipated.

"Five hundred pounds," I replied, naming the figure that first entered my mind. I was an arrant fool. I might just as well have said a thousand.

"Done!" she said. "Give it to me."

"No," I said, smiling. "I suppose you do not keep such a sum in the house. So I shall call again at five o'clock this afternoon to administer the serum. If, by that time, you have the cash ready to hand to me, I shall go away—and forget to inject it. Or better," I added, "I may perhaps inject something else."

"There will be no blunder?" she said hoarsely.

"None—on my part."