“How much money does she want?”
“One thousand dollars.”
“And you cannot pay it?”
“I have no more money than my husband gives me, and he would find it difficult to raise so large a sum.”
“Now, then, what is it you wish from me?”
“Well, what am I to do?”
“I think I should say that it is simply impossible—that you would find it difficult to raise a thousand cents. Convince these people of your inability to raise the money, and, as a rule, they drop the thing. It is the hope of getting money that makes them hold on.”
“But cannot you give me some way of getting back those letters?”
“Frankly, Mrs. Ansel, for that I take to be your name,” said Nick, “I don’t think the game is worth the candle.
“If I were in your place, I should take a detective of the regular force with me to the appointed place, and when the blackmailer appeared, put him, or her, or them, under arrest. They would give up the letters to be released.”