Mr.
Morris greeted him, as he re-entered the apartment, with a smile,
and immediately rose to his feet.
"It is now time, gentlemen," said he, "to explain my purpose in
decoying you from your amusements. I trust you did not find the
evening hang very dully on your hands; but my object, I will
confess it, was not to entertain your leisure, but to help myself
in an unfortunate necessity. You are all gentlemen," he continued,
"your appearance does you that much justice, and I ask for no
better security. Hence, I speak it without concealment, I ask you
to render me a dangerous and delicate service; dangerous because
you may run the hazard of your lives, and delicate because I must
ask an absolute discretion upon all that you shall see or hear.
From an utter stranger the request is almost comically extravagant;
I am well aware of this; and I would add at once, if there be any
one present who has heard enough, if there be one among the party
who recoils from a dangerous confidence and a piece of Quixotic
devotion to he knows not whom - here is my hand ready, and I shall
wish him good-night and God-speed with all the sincerity in the
world."
A very tall, black man, with a heavy stoop, immediately responded
to this appeal.
"I commend your frankness, Sir," said he; "and, for my part, I go.
I make no reflections; but I cannot deny that you fill me with
suspicious thoughts.
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