Merton. That devil O'Brien found me out and
started to blackmail me--"
"Blackmail?" I asked.
"In his own way. He made me give him liquor--and there we were the pair
of us! That's why I pulled down the blind. The decanter and glasses were
all out on this table here! And that's why O'Brien was afraid you might
be sent by his relations. That was the one thing he was afraid of,--that
he might be found out and taken away."
I bent over him and sniffed.
"You have had a dram now!" I exclaimed.
"And it's not the first since you've been here either. You see I'm
perfectly frank with you, Mr. Merton. If you like to give me away to
Philip--well be d----d, you can if you like. But you'll surely not? I've
told you what I've told to no one else."
There rushed into my mind confirmation enough of part at least of the
poor devil's story. His curious moods, his manner as he entered the
room this evening, O'Brien's impish allusions to liquor when I first
visited the house, all fell into their places now. Yet utterly as this
had exploded my hopes, I think I was more glad than sorry to see the
doctor come out of the ordeal with only this kind of stain on his
character. He was a likeable man, we had been capital friends--and he
was Jean's cousin.
"I promise you, doctor," I said, "that I shall repeat no word of this
story--except of course in confidence to those who are on the track of
this business in Ransay.
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