"It has a lot to do with Dor----"
"If you mention that name I shall knock you down again!" shouted the Squire.
Carrington was wise enough to take the hint, being a coward at heart as all bullies are. "I should like to know why you knocked me down at all?" he complained, in sulky tones.
"I did so, because you are little else than a blackmailer."
"How dare you use that word to me!" cried Carrington, black with rage, and he would have struck his quondam friend but that he knew from experience that he would get the worst of it in any struggle which might ensue.
"What other word applies to your conduct?" demanded Hendle fiercely. "As my old school chum I have treated you well, and have shown you every hospitality, as you know very well. And how do you repay me? By threatening to make things hot for me if I don't buy your silence with a large sum of money."
"I didn't threaten to make things hot for you," protested Carrington, snarling like a disappointed dog. "I only suggested that you should hush up the matter of the murder and the will----"
"Yes, and pay you to hold your tongue. What else is that but blackmail? If I was dishonorable enough to agree to your terms, your request for money would only be the first of many."
"I swear that I would ask no more."
"All blackmailers say that, until they get their victims in their toils by the first payment. Then they show themselves in their true colors. I wonder you are not ashamed, Carrington, to behave so basely."