Hugh closed the door after the lad.

“You’re not going to be too busy to see me this morning, Slotman, for I have interesting things to discuss with you.”

“I am a busy man,” Slotman began nervously.

“Very!” said Hugh—­“very, so I hear.”

He stepped into the room, and faced Slotman across the paper-littered table.

“I have been hearing about some of your enterprises,” he said, and there was that in his face that caused Mr. Slotman a feeling of insecurity and uneasiness.  “One of them is blackmail!”

“How dare—­” Slotman began, with an attempt at bluster.

“That’s what I am here for; to dare.  You have been blackmailing a young lady whose name we need not mention.  You have obtained the sum of three thousand pounds from her, by means of threats.  I want that money—­and more; I want a declaration from you that you will never molest her again; for if you do—­if you do—­”

Hugh’s face was not good to see, and Mr. Slotman quivered uneasily in his chair.

“The—­the money was lent to me.  Miss Meredyth worked for me, and—­and I went to her, explaining that my business was in a precarious condition, and she very kindly lent me the money.  And I haven’t got it, Mr. Alston.  I’ll swear I haven’t a penny of it left.  I could not repay it if I wanted to; it—­it was a friendly loan.”

Slotman leaned back in his chair; he looked at Hugh.

“You have done me a cruel wrong, Mr. Alston,” he said, in the tone of a deeply injured man.  “Miss Meredyth worked for me, and while she was here I respected her, even more.”  He paused.  “At any rate I respected her.  She attracted me, and, I will confess it, I fell in love with her.  She was poor; she had nothing then to tempt a fortune hunter, and thank Heaven I can say I was never that.  I asked her to be my wife, no man could do more, no man could act more honourably.  You’ll admit that, eh?  You must admit that?”

“And she refused you?”

“Not—­not definitely.  It was too good an offer for a girl in her position to refuse without consideration.”

“You lie!”

Slotman shifted uneasily.  “I cannot force your belief.”

“You’re right, you can’t.  Well, go on—­what more?”

“She came into this money; my proposal no longer tempted her.  She then refused me, even though I told her that the past—­her past—­would be forgotten, that I would never refer to it.”

“What past?” Hugh shouted.

“Hers and yours,” Slotman said boldly.  “A supposed marriage that never took place, her sudden disappearance from her school in June, nineteen hundred and eighteen, when that marriage was supposed to have been celebrated—­but never was.  Her story of leaving England for Australia—­an obvious lie, Mr. Alston.  All those things I knew.  All those things I can prove—­against her—­and against you—­and—­and—­” Slotman’s voice quivered.  He leaped to his feet and uttered a shout for help.