“I see,” said Nick, without further comments.
“As I was saying,” Gordon continued, “I removed my disguise in the vestibule, and Miss Lancey admitted me a moment later. She invited me into the room back of the front parlor.”
“I know,” Nick nodded. “What then occurred?”
“She then came to the point and said plainly that she wanted to sell me the letters Madison had written to her. She stated that they were of so compromising a character that, if published, his defeat in the coming election would be inevitable.”
“That’s about what I suspected,” Nick remarked.
“She offered to give them to me and permit me to have them published, either personally or indirectly, for ten thousand dollars. She did most of the talking, Nick, and that’s about all that was said.”
“You mean——”
“I mean, of course, that I would not resort to such despicable means even to insure my election,” Gordon interrupted more forcibly. “I told her so, also what I thought of her and her proposition, and I then left the house.”
“Did she accompany you to the door?”
“No. I departed in haste and disgust, both for her and myself, for having gone there.”