An Experiment in Treason by Bruce Alexander Page A

you not the sense that God gave you? Do you not see that they are planning on escape?”
    The word, which she had actually whispered, seemed to sound like a shout in the close quarters of the coach. I heard it, and heard it well, yet I refused to acknowledge it. I simply stared at her.
    “Let me make it plain,” said she, continuing. “If the woman you loved were about to be sent away to serve a term in prison, perhaps even to be condemned to death — and you had the means to take her any place in the world, would you not steal her away and take her out of danger? Jeremy, he has riding at anchor out there in the river a fine seagoing vessel. You told me yourself that when last you saw him, Mr. Bilbo was counting his cash, and there were so many banknotes and sovereigns that you could not see the top of the desk. We know that he has sold his gaming den — for cash — and he has probably sold that grand house in St. James’s Street, as well. He has great wealth that can be spent anywhere. If you cannot see where all this is pointing, then you are not near as clever as I think you are.”
    She, who was but sixteen, appeared much older as she expounded upon my blindness to the obvious. Her eyes shone steady and sharp. There could be no doubt of the intensity of her feeling as she made her argument. It seemed altogether impossible that this was the girl who had but a short time before rested her head upon my shoulder. She seemed to contain within her some several females of various ages. Which must I now address?
    ‘ Listen to me please, if you will,” said I, “and don’t interrupt. I have not heard what you have said, and for that matter, we have not had this conversation. If I had heard, and if this conversation had taken place, then I should have to go to Sir John and give it as our suspicion that Mr. Bilbo was preparing to aid and abet the escape of Marie-Helene, Lady Grenville. Naturally,” said I (a bit sarcastically), “I would give you credit and declare that you had convinced me. Now if — “
    “But why?’ she demanded, interrupting in spite of my request. “Why would you have to bring this to Sir John?”
    “Because I hope to be an officer of the court someday not so far in the future, and I want no stain upon my record. And if you are still as talkative as you have been in the past, you would not be able to resist spreading your thoughts and observations about and boasting you had convinced me. In other words, that I knew in advance of their plans.”
    “I would not!” she declared. “I would do no such thing! ‘
    “Perhaps indeed you would not. Perhaps you would get past that temptation and all would be well. Nevertheless there is this matter I should like to clear up between us. I should like to tell you, Clarissa, that I am as clever as you think I am. By the time I left Mr. Bilbo’s residence yesterday, I thought that there was much amiss, yet I would not allow myself to pursue such thoughts and draw the sort of conclusions that you have drawn, for the reasons I have just stated. I would have to be a dunce to thus overlook the obvious. And if you want suspicions, here is one of mine you may not have considered: I believe that Sir John himself is fearful that Black Jack and his lady will try something of the sort you’ve suggested. Do you recall how he came home from Bilbo’s the other night? So angry and out-of-sorts? I believe he sensed it then taking shape. He sent me with that dreaded message, because he did not want to know more about it, for if he did, he would have to prevent it — perhaps report it himself to the Lord Chief Justice.”
    There I stopped, panting and quite out of breath. It seemed we were both left with nothing more to say, for we were silent for a considerable while.
    “And so,” said Clarissa, “what shall we do?”
    “Nothing out of the ordinary, I should think.”
    “But it’s all so plain,” she protested. “Do we cover our eyes and stuff our ears with