The answer came back, sharp as an echo,
"Who's that?"
"I'm Mrs. Trupp. I want to speak to Alfred Caspar."
Then the voice muttered and Alfred took the receiver.
Later Mrs. Trupp told her husband of the incident.
"I'm certain it was Captain Royal," she said with emphasis.
The old surgeon expressed no surprise.
"I daresay," he said. "Alf's raising money for some business scheme. He told me so."
Now if Alf's attempts on Ruth in the days between the birth of the child and her marriage to Ernie were known to Mrs. Trupp, the connection of the little motor-engineer and Royal was only suspected by her. A chance word of Ruth's had put her on guard; and that was all. Now with the swift natural intuition for the ways of evil-doers, which the innocent woman, once roused, so often reveals as by miracle, she flashed to a conclusion.
"Alf's blackmailing him!" she said positively.