Til's garret. So it be well for you, my Lord, to pay old Til well and add

a few guilders for the peace of her tongue if you would that your prisoner

find peace in old Til's house."

"Fetch me the bundle, hag," replied De Vac, "and you shall have gold

against a final settlement; more even than we bargained for if all goes

well and thou holdest thy vile tongue."

But the old woman's threats had already caused De Vac a feeling of

uneasiness, which would have been reflected to an exaggerated degree in the

old woman had she known the determination her words had caused in the mind

of the old master of fence.

His venture was far too serious, and the results of exposure too fraught

with danger, to permit of his taking any chances with a disloyal

fellow-conspirator. True, he had not even hinted at the enormity of the

plot in which he was involving the old woman, but, as she had said, his

stern commands for secrecy had told enough to arouse her suspicions, and

with them her curiosity and cupidity. So it was that old Til might well

have quailed in her tattered sandals had she but even vaguely guessed the

thoughts which passed in De Vac's mind; but the extra gold pieces he

dropped into her withered palm as she delivered the bundle to him, together

with the promise of more, quite effectually won her loyalty and her silence

for the time being.

Slipping the key into the pocket of his tunic and covering the bundle with

his long surcoat, De Vac stepped out into the darkness of the alley and

hastened toward the dock.

Beneath the planks. he found a skiff which he had moored there earlier in

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