B. Fletcher Robinson

“ We did not join them, seating ourselves near the door. Brendon, or the graver part of it, moved by us in a tiny stream. A few elders walked up to the platform with the air of those who realize that they are something in the world. The clock above them was pointing to the hour when, with a thumping of feet and a clapping of hands, Coran appeared, and shook hands with the white-whiskered old chairman.
It was while the chairman was introducing “the popular and venerated townsman who had come to address them,” that the red face of Mr. Horledge came peering in at the door. ”

“ Could he expect more visits to the summer-house? Why had young Appleton come sneaking up at so late an hour if he were not guilty? The problem that had seemed so simple was changed into a maze of strange complications. I was too sleepy to trace them further.
I was awakened by a touch on my shoulder. It was Coran who stood by my bedside.
“We breakfast in half an hour,” he said uneasily.
“I will be punctual.”
“Forgive my importunity, Mr. Phillips; but promise me that you will be careful before Miss Rebecca. She is so very acute. I never knew a woman with a keener instinct for scandal. ”

“ Accustomed, therefore, to the corruption that taints the municipal life of other cities, you can scarcely comprehend the whole-souled enthusiasm with which we of Brendon approach the duties, may I say the sacred trust, of administering to the sanitary and moral welfare of our county. Those whom we select must be of unstained reputation. From a place on the sports committee of the flower show I myself have risen through successive grades until even the Houses of Parliament seemed within the limit of legitimate ambition. ”

“ He was fined three pounds or seven days. That was all.
“Not a subject of earth-shaking importance,” I said.
“No; but it has proved a sufficient excuse for blackmail.”
“Then the victim is a fool,” I answered hotly. “Why, from the look of the paper, the affair must have taken place a dozen years ago.”
“Thirty-two years this month.”
“Which means that the riotous student is now a man of over fifty. If James Coran has gone down the hill, the past can't hurt him now; if he has led a respectable life, surely he can afford to neglect the scamp who threatens to rake up so mild a scandal. ”

“ As an election weapon the old scandal could be used with striking effect. So he paid—as many a better man has been fool enough to do under like circumstances.
“In three days—on Saturday, that is—the election takes place. This morning he received a letter similar to the first, save that the demand was for a hundred pounds. He had just sense enough to see that if he allowed himself to be blackmailed again it would merely encourage further attempt at extortion. So when he arrived in town, he took a cab to Scotland Yard. I heard his story, and caught the next train down to Brendon. ”

“ They'll like you all the better for it. Do you suppose there is no human nature in Brendon? Are you going to keep this miserable scandal hanging over your head all your life? If you stick to politics some one is sure to rake it up. Be a man, Mr. Coran, and get it over now. ”

“ They would not hesitate. Mark my words, sir, if Horledge and Panton—my opponent's chief supporters in Saturday's election—are informed of these facts, they will mention them on platforms, they may even display them on hoardings.”
He paused, sighed deeply, and wiped his face with a large silk pocket-handkerchief. The situation was ridiculous enough, yet not without a certain pathos underlying the humour; for the man was sincerely in earnest.
“If I can help you, Mr. Coran, I am at your disposal,” I told him. ”

“ Coran. From where he lay he could look under the lower edge of the blind, which was not drawn completely down. He raised his ears; some one approached; he wagged his tail, it was a friend with whom he was well acquainted. If it had been a stranger he would have run barking to the window. It is simple enough, surely.”
“Did you see who it was?” asked our host, with a sudden change of manner.
“No,” said the little man. “But I think this conversation unwise. Shall we join the ladies in the drawing-room?” ”

“ Coran by the threat of revealing the secret which Miss Rebecca Coran told you this morning, and which you verified this afternoon by a reference to the old newspaper files in the British Museum.”
“I had no idea—this is most surprising. I—is it illegal?” he stuttered.
“Blackmail for whatever purpose is illegal. Further attempts have been made to extort money. It is because they failed that you were placed in possession of the facts to-day.”
“It seemed a mean trick, any way,” said Horledge, penitently. “I wish I had never listened to the old cat. ”

“ And, as a father, I cannot forget the future of my poor girls. If she knew the truth she would not leave them a penny; also, her heart is affected.”
“I am sorry to hear it.”
“Thank you. It is very necessary that you should be discreet.” ”

“ In all particulars he seems to have spoken the truth.”
“Must the hundred pounds be placed in the summer-house to-night?”
“No. The blackmailer gave him a day to collect the money. It must be in the locker to-morrow night by eleven o'clock.”
“Which means that you will watch the place and pull out the fish as he takes the bait. It seems simple enough, anyhow.”
“Oh yes,” he said. “But it is the faulty sense of proportion in Coran which provides the interest in the case. Even at the time the scandal was no very serious matter. ”

“ I murmured.
“The young man, Thomas Appleton by name, is of more than doubtful character. Miss Rebecca, my sister, has seen him boating on the Thames in the company of ladies whose appearance was—er—distinctly theatrical.” ”