Their efforts to induce me to join them were redoubled, and Hearn
took to calling almost daily at my house--usually with documents and
signatures which he tried to persuade me to copy.
"A few evenings ago he made a new and startling proposition. We were
walking in my garden, and he had been urging me once more to rejoin the
gang--unsuccessfully, I need not say. Presently he sat down on a seat
against a yew-hedge at the bottom of the garden, and, after an interval
of silence, said suddenly:
"'Then you absolutely refuse to go in with us?'
"'Of course I do,' I replied. 'Why should I mix myself up with a gang of
crooks when I have ample means and a decent position?'
"'Of course,' he agreed, 'you'd be a fool if you did. But, you see, you
know all about this Eastwich job, to say nothing of our other little
exploits, and you gave us away once before. Consequently, you can take
it from me that, now Jezzard has run you to earth, he won't leave you in
peace until you have given us some kind of a hold on you. You know too
much, you see, and as long as you have a clean sheet you are a standing
menace to us.
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