"I was under the impression that you had buried your scruples," the other answered, and was amazed at the sudden passion that blazed in the sombre eyes. "Never in my life before have I permitted a man to insult me as you have insulted me," was the angry reply. "I've swallowed as much as I intend to swallow... Whatever you have learnt concerning my past does not invest you with the right of insulting me." "Your complaint is quite reasonable," Colonel Grey returned with a certain quiet dignity that partially disarmed the other's math. "I have allowed my feelings to lead me away. I regret it. Will you please be seated, Mr Lawless? There are one or two things which I wish to say to you, if you are satisfied to go on with this business." He paused deliberately; and, after a moment's hesitation, Lawless sat down. "In the first place," he added, when Lawless was again occupying the chair from which he had risen, "I think we should have a time limit for the carrying out of this enterprise. Is that agreeable to you?" "Perfectly," came the brief response. "Then, suppose we say six months... How does that strike you?" "It's fair enough." "You haven't any suggestion of your own to make on that head?" "None... Only I shall get the papers before six months are up." "You are very confident," the Colonel said. Lawless looked thoughtful. "I take a peculiar personal interest in this affair," he said. "If I did not I should not go on with it... I told you I would get those papers for you, or kill your man... I mean to do one or the other--or both." Colonel Grey scrutinised him earnestly. His lips parted as though he would say something, and then shut with a snap on the unspoken words. Lawless sat up suddenly. "There isn't any use in your seeing me," he said. "Give me my head, the funds to go on with for a few months, and then leave the matter in my hands. You shall have those papers... It's not that I take a particular interest in them, or in your client, but it pleases me to do this thing. When I make up my mind to carry a thing through I do it. You may call that tall talking--but it amounts simply to this, that I hold life cheaply; the only law I recognise is the unwritten law. I've lived among the social outcasts--I'm one of them, and so, perhaps, I am well suited to carry through a matter that is outside the law. You don't trust me... Because of what you have heard you doubt even that I have the courage which this affair may demand. It's natural that you should doubt. But if you can bring yourself to accept my word, this matter is safe in my hands." There was a long silence. Then the Colonel spoke abruptly, and, as it sounded, greatly against his inclination. But in spite of himself, in spite of all the evidence against him, he liked and trusted this man. Perhaps the fact that he had not attempted to explain, or to excuse an inexcusable crime, prejudiced him favourably.