'Is it true, Lopez?' asked the editor.
'Whatever was done was done in private,--between me and the Duke.'
'Dukes, my dear fellow, can't be private, and certainly not when they are Prime Ministers.'
'But you've no right to publish these things about me.'
'Is it true? If it's true, I have got every right to publish it.
If it's not true, I've got the right to ask the question.If you will 'ave to do with Prime Ministers you can't 'ide yourself under a bushel.Tell me this;--is it true? You might as well go 'and in 'and with me in the matter.You can't hurt yourself.
And if you oppose me,--why I shall oppose you.'
'You can't say anything of me.'
'Well;--I don't know about that.I can generally 'it pretty 'ard if I feel inclined.But I don't want to 'it you.As regards you I can tell the story one way,--or the other, just as you please.' Lopez, seeing it in a manner not inimical to himself.The present project of his life was to leave his troubles in England,--Sexty Parker being the worst of them,--and get away to Guatemala.In arranging this the good word of Mr Slide might not benefit him, but his ill word might injure him.
And then let him do what he would, the matter must be made public.Should Mr Wharton hear of it,--as of course he would,--it must be brazened out.He could not keep it from Mr Wharton's ears by quarrelling with Quintus Slide.
'It was true,' said Lopez.
'I knew it before just as well as though I had seen it.I ain't often very wrong in these things.You asked him for the money,--and threatened him.'
'I don't know about threatening him.'
''E wouldn't have sent it else.'
'I told him that I had been deceived by his people in the borough, and that I had been put to expense through the misrepresentations of the Duchess.I don't think I did ask for the money.But he sent a cheque, and of course I took it.'
Of course;--of course.You couldn't give me a copy of the letter?'
'Never kept a copy.' He had a copy in his breast coat-pocket at that moment and Slide did not for a moment believe the statement made.But in such discussions one man hardly expects truth from another.Mr Slide certainly never expected truth from any man.
'He sent the cheque almost without a word,' said Lopez.
'He did write a note, I suppose?'
'Just a few words.'
'Could you let me 'ave that note?'
'I destroyed it at once.' This also was in his breast pocket at the time.
'Did 'e write it 'imself?'
'I think it was his private Secretary, Mr Warburton.'
'You must be sure, you know.Which was it?'
'It was Mr Warburton.'
'Was it civil?'
'Yes, it was.If it had been uncivil I should have sent it back.
I'm not the man to take impudence even from a duke.'
'If you'll give me those two letters, Lopez, I'll stick to you through thick and thin.By heavens I will! Think what the "People's Banner" is.You may come to want that kind of thing some of these days.' Lopez remained silent, looking into the other man's eager face.'I shouldn't publish them, you know; but it would be so much to me to have the evidence in my hands.You might do worse, you know, than make a friend of me.'
'You won't publish them?'
'Certainly not.I shall only refer to them.'
Then Lopez pulled a bundle of papers out of his pocket.'There they are,' he said.
'Well,' said Slide, when he had read them, 'it is one of the rummiest transactions I ever 'eard of.Why did 'e send the money? That's what I want to know.As far as the claim goes, you 'adn't a leg to stand on.'
'Not legally.'
'You 'adn't a leg to stand on any way.But that doesn't much matter.He sent the money, and the sending of the money was corrupt.Who shall I get to ask the question.I suppose young Arthur Fletcher wouldn't do it.'
'They're birds of a feather,' said Lopez.
'Birds of a feather do fall out sometimes.Or Sir Orlando Drought? I wonder whether Sir Orlando Drought would do it.If any man 'ated another, Sir Orlando Drought must 'ate the Duke of Omnium.'
'I don't think he would let himself down to that kind of thing.'
'Let 'imself down! I don't see any letting down in it.But those men who have been in cabinets do stick to one another even when they are enemies.They think themselves so mighty that they oughtn't to be 'andled like other men.But I'll let them know that I'll 'andle them.A Cabinet Minister or a cowboy is the same to Quintus Slide when he has got his pen in 'is hand.'
On the next morning there came out another article in the "People's Banner", in which the writer declared that he had in his own possession the damnatory correspondence between the Prime Minister and the late candidate at Silverbridge.'The Prime Minister may deny the fact,' said the article.'We do not think it probable, but it is possible.We wish to be fair and aboveboard in everything.And therefore we at once inform the noble Duke that the entire correspondence is in our hands.' In saying this Mr Quintus Slide thought that he had quite kept the promise which he made when said that he would only refer to the letters.