“You won’t answer me? Well, then, let us say your wife dies before the summer is out⁠—”

“Drop it, Fosco!”

“Let us say your wife dies⁠—”

“Drop it, I tell you!”

“In that case, you would gain twenty thousand pounds, and you would lose⁠—”

“I should lose the chance of three thousand a year.”

“The remote chance, Percival⁠—the remote chance only. And you want money, at once. In your position the gain is certain⁠—the loss doubtful.”