"Later on I shall explain. Meanwhile, don't beat about the bush, but tell me exactly what Maunders threatens."
Vernon detailed the conversation, and Dimsdale returned to his seat to hear the narrative. When it was ended he nodded with compressed lips. "Very clever on the part of Master Snake. He has you in his power right enough, since he is ready to betray you if you don't obey his commands. Well, then, I am going--to a certain extent--to put him in your power."
"What? Have you found out----"
"I have found out nothing," said Dimsdale testily. "Don't interrupt. Do you know of a blackmailer called The Spider?"
Vernon half rose and then sat down again with an effort at self-control. "I have come across his work on several occasions, and so has Scotland Yard. No one knows what he is or where he lives or anything about him. He gets his name from the fact that he always signs his blackmailing letters with the stamped representation of a spider."
"Go on," said Dimsdale, quite calmly for him, "tell me more."
"There is little to tell, sir. The Spider learns people's secrets somehow, and in a way which no one can discover. He then writes to this or that person and threatens unless a certain sum of money is paid to publish the secret by means of postcards sent to the private address and sometimes to the club of his victim. Of course, there is no combating this mode of procedure, so most people pay quietly, although some have kicked."
"Why isn't the reptile arrested when he comes for his money? Tell me that, sir. Tell me that."
"Sometimes the money is sent to a given address, and at other times The Spider, masked and cloaked, meets his victim personally. He is not arrested because he always tells his victim that if the police are brought into the question, and he is jailed, the especial secret will be published all the same to the world by a hidden accomplice by means of postcards. So you can see, Mr. Dimsdale, that if any person wishes his or her secret to be preserved they cannot risk an arrest. Still, I have been employed by one or two victims to learn the truth, and I have failed. I can't lay hands on The Spider, nor can any of the official detectives."
Mr. Dimsdale nodded. "He's a clever animal," said he grimly. "You have described his mode of procedure extremely well, my boy. It's just the way in which he is tormenting Emily."