“For a moment the room swam around me, then gathering my wits I looked to see if the other players had also detected her. As my eye traveled around the table, Madame de Berriot raised her head, and I saw by her expression that she also had caught my wife in the act of cheating. For one sickening second I feared she would call everyone’s attention to their table, but to my surprise, she said nothing.
“I got my wife away as quickly as possible, but I was too sick at heart to tell her of my discovery. I walked the floor for the rest of the night wondering what was the best thing for me to do.
“On my arrival at the Department Tuesday morning, I found Madame de Berriot awaiting me in my office. It was not a pleasant interview.” The Attorney General smiled bitterly. “We went over the whole dirty business. She had come there to bleed me, and she did—$10,000 was her price of silence.
“I am a proud man, Tillinghast, and I could not bear to have my wife and my name coupled with dishonor. I—I could not face the scandal that would follow the exposé; therefore, I bought the woman off.
“It was a large sum, and I could not give it to her at a moment’s notice. She was then on her way to Baltimore, but intended to return to Washington late on Wednesday afternoon to get her traps together, as she was leaving here for good Thursday morning on the Colonial Express. She did not wish me to call at the Embassy where she was stopping as it might cause comment; she would not accept a certified check for the same reason.
“My engagements on Wednesday were such that I had no time free. Therefore, in desperation, I suggested she should stop here for the money. I knew my wife and Beatrice intended to go to the Bachelors’, and that they never left a dance until the very end. So it was arranged that she should come here on her way from the ball about two o’clock.
“It was sheer madness to yield to a blackmailer, I know, but, Tillinghast, I was half wild by that time, and lost my head; and bitterly have I rued it since.” Trevor sighed drearily. “I came home that night, as I testified at the inquest, and went directly to my room, tiptoeing past my wife’s door, for I was desperately afraid of awakening her. I threw myself down on the lounge and, overcome by weariness, fell into a troubled sleep.
“Some time later I awoke with a start, struck a match and glanced at the clock; it was just five minutes of two. I raised the shade and looked out of the window. The Embassy was not far away. Suddenly I saw a woman’s figure coming slowly down 20th Street. I watched her cross the street, and then hurried downstairs as noiselessly as I could and admitted her. We went at once to the private office, and there I discovered that I had left my wallet containing the money in my bedroom, and I hastened back upstairs to get it. Just as I was returning the telephone rang. Madame de Berriot, thinking the noise might be overheard, removed the receiver, but instead of putting it on the table answered the call; then beckoned to me. I talked to the Secretary; then rang off. Immediately afterwards I gave Madame de Berriot her money in gold certificates, and escorted her to the door. That is the last I ever saw of her,” he added, leaning wearily back in his chair.
For some minutes Dick sat regarding Trevor in silence. Then he roused himself.
“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”