"Goin' t' cut int' th' thousand?" asked Strange, blandly. "He was not your nephew, remember," she retorted. The mariner stared and chuckled. "Donner und Blitz!" "I know German, if you prefer to talk in that tongue." He recovered with another stare. "I reckon y've hed a board-school eddication all along th' line. I swear in any lingo handy----" "So I hear," she informed him swiftly. "But I don't stock furrein chin-chin nowhow. An' now, ma'am"--he expanded his chest and puffed out his cheeks--"I'll trouble y' t' han' over ten thousand dollars." "What's that in English?" "Two thousand pounds." Evidently Strange had gone to considerable trouble in calculating his blackmail. "And if you do not get it?" "Then I guess you'll be sent up." Leah laughed scornfully. "I understand: unless I submit to extortion you will tell this story about your supposed nephew and Mr. Garth." "I'll rip out everything" the captain assured her without flinching; "an' t' th' nearest copper"--the last word, she observed, was popular cockney. "Be careful," she warned him; "our police make capital out of rascality." The sailor choked and his eyes bulged. "Ras--ras--rascality?" "Blackmail, in plain English, Captain Strange." "Naow don't git me riz," Strange implored her. "I'm a holy terror with m' hair off." "Oh, we can tame wild beasts in this country." "But if I tell----" "Tell what?" "Damn!" breathed the astonished man; then almost shrieked an explanation: "Why, thet Dr. Demetrius brought Garth as a corp t' Kingston, an' yanked your husband int' the Blue Mountains t' sham death. Aye; he did, y' bet. An' thet Berrin'--Lord James, y' call him in your cussed fine way--come aboard my barkey, while the corp as wos called by his name lighted out fur th' old country, so thet y' might run rings round a company of sorts." "How interesting! And what has it all to do with me?" "My stars!" Strange rose to stamp the more freely. "Sit down, please," said Lady Jim, sweetly. "I do not allow people of your class to show their manners in my drawing-room." "It should be a prison with you in it," he raged. "What a brute you are! Because you think that I am under your thumb, you not only attempt blackmail, but add insult." "I'll make things hum, I kin tell y'. I'll bust up this conspiracy." "What conspiracy?" asked Leah, stubbornly. Strange made for the door with a nautical roll. "You kin arsk th' nearest copper. I'll give him details, never fear." "Close the door after you, please," said Lady Jim, as he wrenched it open fiercely. The captain immediately banged it again with a naughty word, and turned to behold her opening a book. "Cold-drawn cheek of th' mos' freezing style," murmured the almost stupefied man. "Oh, my country, t'aint no wonder he took leg-bail. If I wos married t' her I'd larrup her every day an' twice on Sundays." "Not gone yet?" inquired Leah, glancing over the top of her book. "Oh, please do! I dislike hearing an illiterate person muttering."