obvious that your father means to come out as the author of 'Trixie' unless we can stop him. The point is, can we? It's impossible for us to get that manuscript out of the Safe Deposit. Burgling's not a bit in my line, and we don't number a single cracksman among our acquaintances. From the only other alternative—murdering your father—I confess I shrink."
"No," she said, "there's another, a better way than that."
"What is it?."
"To find out some dark secret of his past life, and threaten to put the police on him unless he chucks this idea of his."
"But," said Dunkle, "suppose he hasn't got any dark secret?"
"You needn't tell me," said Chloë, "that a man of his age, with whiskers like his whiskers, hasn't got something in his past that he can't afford to have dug up
