“Possibly, if in concealing the identity of this woman, one concealed a fact bearing upon the discovery of the murderer. I can assure you that her identity has no bearing whatever upon the other question.”
“Then why not let it drop into the oblivion from which you have dragged it?”
She knew the danger of exchanging question and answer with him, but human endurance has its limit, and even she could not carry indifference beyond the breaking point. Still, she was not unconscious of the gleam of satisfaction in his face.
“Because,” he said, “this woman has grown strong, powerful, and rich. Safety is doubly precious to her. There is no reason why she should not pay for it.”
“You mean,” she said, and her eyes snapped, “blackmail!”
She had not been the active partner for thirty-five years of a politician who had climbed from obscurity to the control of the State, without knowing what this word meant, nor without knowing the infinite deeps that yawn for the man or woman who shows the first sign of weakness to the blackmailer.
“You are mistaken,” he said. He was on ground now that he had gone over in his mind again and again, in his preparation for this interview. “The essence of blackmail is threat. I make no threat. I have not said that I will expose you, if you do not pay me. I expressly disclaim any such intention. But safety is worth something to you; you are rich and have high social position. I offer you protection in your riches and position, and, for giving it, I ought to have recompense—simply a fair equivalent for what I do. Nothing more; but that much is fair; I think you cannot deny its fairness.”
He knew he was sliding off into inanity; that all had been said that he purposed saying, and that he was simply repeating himself and repeating himself weakly. He stopped and waited her answer.
On her part she held herself under restraint, resolved not to interrupt him until he had said all he had to say. His change from impersonal to personal, which he thought she did not notice, simply impressed her as unimportant. She felt fully the weakness and embarrassment of his final words, and even with the stress under which she waited, his feeble maudlinism affected her with a sense of pity.
“Have you finished?” she asked, when he spoke no further.