“Why don’t they know everything?” asked the girl.
“Because I haven’t told ’em,” was the reply.
“And so you blackmailed him under threat of telling, did you?”
“Well, he seemed to be willin’,” countered Smithy evasively, “or he wouldn’t have paid.”
“Why did you write me that letter, Caldwell?”
“The boss here told me to,” motioning toward Stelton.
“What reason did he give for telling you?”
Caldwell did not like this question. He turned and twisted in his seat without replying, and shot a quick glance at Stelton, uncertain what reply 263 was expected of him. But he got no help there.
Stelton was relishing the fear and anxiety of his tool and watched to see which way the other’s cowardice would lead him. He was quite unprepared for the answer that came.
“It is a long worm that has no turning,” someone has remarked, and Caldwell had reached his length. The pure cruelty of Stelton’s conduct revolted him, and now, sure that Stelton could do him no harm because of his tied hands, he took a vicious dig at his former leader.