Bending forward, until her mouth was almost at his right ear, she explained a very pretty scheme, which would oust Lionel and restore Jim's birthright, without inculpating her. Strange listened calmly, and nodded heavy approval at intervals. All the time admiration deepened in his hard eyes, but this did not prevent him bargaining. "Yes," said he, balancing his hat carefully. "It kin be done. Six thousand, ain't it!" "Five thousand." "Six!" he insisted. So much was at stake that Leah yielded. She could afford to do so, with fifty thousand a year in prospect. "Six, then--to be paid when you leave prison." "Huh! An' when might that be?" "How should I know?" said Lady Jim, crossly, for the strain on her nerves was great. "Ask some lawyer." "Blackmail an' conspiracy," murmured Strange, reflectively. "Sounds like a few years of oakum-pickin', don't it? Not as I intend to give my opinion on these British gaols. Sing-sing's good enough fur me." "What do you mean by that?" "Never you mind, ma'am. But if the dollars ain't planked down----" "They will be. Can't you trust me, man?" "I guess not. You're what I call a holy terror, an' no mistake. Firmingham, y' said--Firmingham." He nodded. "I've nailed it." "When will you go down?" "Arter I've seen thet land-shark 'bout the kind of poppy-cock th' bloomin' judge ull talk. Go slow, ma'am; y' git along with your share, an' I'll do mine. So long!" Leah did not like to grasp the tarry hand extended, but out of diplomacy she was forced to touch the pitch which was defiling her. "I can depend upon you, Captain Strange." He nodded. "Y' kin let it go at thet. So long, agin. An' if I'd married you," he added, with genuine emotion, "cuss me if I wouldn't hev bin runnin' the U.S.A. in th' Presidential Chair." Leah digested this compliment at her leisure. CHAPTER XXVIII After that momentous interview Lady Jim realised the truth of Strange's scriptural quotation, although he had translated it into his own lax vernacular. Unfortunately, hearing it after the event, she could not take Isaiah's advice, and had too hastily condemned the fetish. She would have given much for the recovery of that precise peacock's feather, for, having freely thrown it away, it was doubtful to her superstitious mind if the luck would hold. Certainly she had arranged judiciously for Jim's return to civilisation, and the unscrupulous captain appeared willing to earn wages as a scapegoat; but there was always the unforeseen to be reckoned with. A chance word, a chance discovery, a too minute inquiry--these might wreck the whole scheme, and she would reap a whirlwind, stormy enough to sweep her out of a social paradise into the bleak desert of Sinners-found-out. A most uncomfortable locality.