“So that if either of us should get into trouble it would not be you?”
“Precisely,” Johnson replied with a laugh. He was silent for some moments.
“And now you may think what I am about to say is strange, Mrs. Hartsilver, but I have rather keen intuition, and something seems to tell me that whatever happened to Preston and Miss Hagerston that evening at Henley, which apparently upset them, Angela Robertson and Stapleton had a hand in it. The idea may sound ridiculous, but that is my strong impression.”
“But what can have happened to them, doctor?”
“I have no idea—at present. Can’t you induce Miss Hagerston to tell you? You and she are such friends.”
“I am afraid not, but I will try.”
“Supposing, for instance, that in the ardor of their love for each other they should have been discovered in some apparently compromising, though in reality quite harmless situation—and been blackmailed. Such things happen oftener than you might suppose; not that I suppose you ever think about such things.”
Cora glanced at him with an expression of horror.
“Is that really so?” she asked.
Johnson nodded.