Fosco (steadily on his side). You have said enough. I want one moment for my own thoughts. Do you guess what I am thinking about?
Wal. Perhaps I do.
Fosco (very quietly). I am thinking whether I shall add to the disorder in this room, by scattering your brains about that fireplace.
Wal. I advise you to read two lines of writing which I have about me before you decide the question.
Fosco (holding out his left hand). Let me see the writing. (WALTER takes a morsel of paper from his pocket, and hands it open, at arm's length, to FOSCO. FOSCO reads it aloud.) "Your letter is received. If I don't hear from you before the time you mention, I will break the seal when the clock strikes." (He looks up at WALTER.) What does your sealed letter tell the person who has written this?
Wal. My letter tells him that I have failed in the purpose which has brought me here to-night, and that I have died by your hand. The man I have written to has the means of making you answer for my life with yours. If you use that pistol, he will open my letter, and employ those means, before you can leave England to-morrow. Are you answered?
Fosco. I am answered. (He takes his right hand out of the drawer, and alters his tone.) I am a just man, Mr. Hartright, even to my enemy. I don't say I may not scatter your brains about the fireplace yet. I only acknowledge they are cleverer brains than I thought them. Take a seat, sir. (He rises, and points to a chair.) I have been packing. With your permission I will resume my coat. (He puts on his coat, and takes his seat again by the table.) Come to the point! You want something of me?
Wal. I want something of you before I leave this house.
Fosco. On conditions?
Wal. On no conditions.
Fosco. My dear sir, we are travelling in a circle! Those clever brains of yours are in danger again. You have not got my lamented friend, Percival, to deal with now. (He [84]takes up his hat from the table and points to the deep crape on it.) See! I mourn his loss. Inwardly, in my soul: outwardly, on my hat. (He puts the hat back.) Sir! you are face to face with Fosco. Realise your position; and state plainly what you demand of me. Is it money?
Wal. It is NOT money. You have been guilty of an infamous conspiracy. The object of it--so far as your personal interests are concerned--is the gain of ten thousand pounds. Keep your gain. (FOSCO draws a breath of relief.) I am not here to bargain for money which has passed through your hands, and which has been the price of a crime.
Fosco. Gently, Mr. Hartright! Keep your moral claptraps for your own countrymen. They have no effect on me. The ten thousand pounds was a legacy left to my wife. I say no more. The subject is deplorably sordid! Once again, what do you demand of me?
Wal. I demand the evidence which establishes Lady Glyde's identity. I demand proofs which fix the date on which Lady Glyde left Blackwater Park, and travelled to London.
Fosco (coolly). Aha! you can lay your finger, I see, on the weak place. Anything more?
Wal. Nothing more.
Fosco. Good. You have stated your position. I will state mine. Since I obtained my triumph over you, at the inquiry held in Cumberland this morning, circumstances have led me to alter my plans. I am about to leave England--never to return to it again. In this position, I have no consequences to fear for myself if I place the evidence of Lady Glyde's identity in your hands. For Miss Halcombe's sake, sir--not for yours or for Lady Glyde's--I will do it! I offer you the proofs you want on three conditions.
Wal. Name them.
Fosco. First condition! you furnish my servant with a written order to the man who has got your letter to give it up--and you wait here with me till the letter is brought back. Before we go on, do you accept the first condition?
Wal. I accept it with one reservation. I require you [85]to destroy the sealed letter in my presence, unopened, as soon as it is placed in your hands.
Fosco (carelessly). I am not curious about the letter. I agree to your reservation. (He gives WALTER writing materials.) Write the order at once--to save time. (WALTER writes a few lines.) Is it far from here?
Wal. It is close by.
(He closes the envelope, addresses it, and hands it to FOSCO.)
Fosco (looking at the address). "Professor Pesca." I thought so! (He rings the bell, and unlocks the door on the right. The servant appears.) Take this to the address, and wait for an answer. (The servant goes out, and closes the door. FOSCO continues, addressing WALTER.) Mr. Hartright, I proceed. Second condition! You make no use of the documents I place in your hands, until Madame Fosco and I have left England. Do you agree?
Wal. Yes.
Fosco. Third condition! After the language you have used here, you meet me abroad at the first convenient opportunity, and you give me the satisfaction of a gentleman. Agreed, again?
Wal. I decline to discuss the third condition with a man who has just threatened me with assassination.
Fosco. Another moral clap-trap! You English are incorrigible. While the servant is gone, I will look for the papers that you want. (He goes to his portmanteau, takes out a bundle of papers, and looks over them. WALTER waits seated at the table, with his back towards the ante-chamber. Two men, in plain costume, appear noiselessly in the moonlit conservatory at the moment when FOSCO has ceased speaking. They listen at the glass door. After showing, by their gestures, that they can hear nothing, they disappear up the conservatory. The next moment they appear again stealthily in the ante-chamber. They look into the room. One points out WALTER to the other. They retire again out of sight. FOSCO selects two papers from the bundle, and places them in the breast-pocket of his coat--then turns abruptly towards the door on the right.) Do I hear the servant? (He opens the door, takes a note from the servant, closes the door again without locking it, and turns to WALTER.) Is this your letter?
[86](The two men reappear in the conservatory, and wait behind the glass door.
Wal. (after looking at it). That is my letter.
Fosco (holding the letter over the flame of the lamp). I burn it as I promised. (He takes the papers out of his pocket, and hands one to WALTER.) Read that.
Wal. (reading). "Blackwater Park, September fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two. DEAR FOSCO,--All has passed exactly as you wished. Lady Glyde starts for London to-day by the two-forty train. Yours, PERCIVAL GLYDE." (WALTER speaks to himself.) The medical certificate declares that Lady Glyde died on the third. Here is her husband's letter dated the fourth, and signed by his name. The proof at last!
Fosco (handing him the second paper). The present address of the valet and his wife, who saw her alive at Blackwater on the morning of the fourth. Witnesses in support of the evidence of the letter.
Wal. (Joyously). This completes it! Oh, Laura! (FOSCO, after looking at WALTER with contemptuous surprise, turns away, and lights a cigarette. WALTER continues to himself.) I have forced the evidence out of him which makes me happy for life.