"You think she's trying—trying—to—"
"To sell you her silence? Yes, I do."
"Good God! I never thought of that. Blackmail."
"I don't suppose for a minute she thinks she's blackmailing you. She's just trying it on…. And she may raise her price, too. She won't rest till she's got that five hundred out of you."
Mrs. Levitt's next communication would appear to have supported
Barbara's suspicion, for Mr. Waddington was compelled to answer it thus:
"DEAR MRS. LEVITT:
"You say you were 'right then' and that my 'promises' were 'conditional'"—
(You could tell where the inverted commas came by the biting clip of his tone.)
—"I fail to appreciate the point of this allusion. I cannot imagine what conditions you refer to. I made none. As for promises, I am not responsible for the somewhat restricted interpretation you see fit to put on a friend's general expressions of goodwill.
"Yours truly,