I. A. R. Wylie

“ The key turned easily, and with a gracefully inviting gesture George motioned William Brown into the dark and silent room. Both darkness and silence oppressed the latter with an eerie prescience of danger, but he said nothing and clenched his chattering teeth, desperately intent on seeing the business through.
"The safe's over by the window," his companion whispered. "Take this electric torch and turn it on when I tell you. We mustn't be wasteful with the gas." ”

“ The real Count—and he was a worse scoundrel than I was for deserting you for that fair-haired doll—has turned up, and it's only a question of hours before he proves his identity. In any case I should have to own up to you. I couldn't stand it any longer. Of course it was natural that you shouldn't care for me and I don't blame you. I deceived you and your feminine intuition found me out. You grew to care for someone else—and I couldn't bear it. I couldn't bear to see you unhappy—or to see you caring for another man. ”

“ As he is a scoundrel, I presume I am a scoundrel also—I have certainly acted as one. A Lucky Pig, which is the one thing I brought with me out of my mysterious and unknown past, points to my being the notorious William Brown, alias Slippery Bill. George confirms this—so now you know what manner of man you have married. ”