heard all the rumours that were
going about, but she knew that they had been kept from Mary Grant,
and she thought that if Blake meant to talk business he might shock or
startle the girl terribly.

"Mr. Pinnock the lawyer is here," she said. "Perhaps you had better see
him. Miss Grant does not know--"

"I am come as a friend of Miss Grant's, Mrs. Gordon," he said. "But, if
Mr. Pinnock is here, perhaps it would be better for me to see him first.
Shall I wait for him here?"

"If you will go into the office I will send him in there," and the old
lady withdrew to talk of commonplace matters with Mary, all the time
feeling that a great crisis was at hand.

Soon the two lawyers faced one another over the office table, and Blake
got to business at once.

"Mr. Pinnock," he said, "I am asked to act for Margaret Donohoe, or
Margaret Grant as she claims to be; and I want you to believe that I am
seriously telling you what I believe to be the truth, when I say that
Miss Grant had better settle this case."

"Why should she pay one penny? What proofs have you? It looks to me,
with all respect to you, Mr. Blake, like an ordinary case of blackmail."

"If it were blackmail," said Blake quietly, "do you think that I would
be here, giving you particulars of the case? I tell you, man, I am ready
now to give you all particulars, and you can soon see whether to advise
a settlement or not."

"Fire away, then," said Pinnock. "It will take a lot to convince me,
though, and so I tell you."

Blake gave him the particulars gleaned from Peggy. "I have examined and
cross-examined and re-cross-examined her, and I can't shake her story."

Pinnock listened with an immovable face, but his mind was working
like lightning. As the name of the missionary and Pike's Hotel were
mentioned, he remembered that he had seen these very names on the butts
of Grant's cheque-books. Getting Blake to excuse him for a moment, he
hurried to his room and pulled out a bundle of cheque-butts. The best
diary of many a man is found in his cheque-butts. There he saw on the
very date mentioned by Blake, cheques drawn to "Self and P.", also one
drawn to "Pike accommodation," and one simply to the name of Nettleship
for five pounds. Of course it was quite possible that the latter was
only a donation to charity, such as old Bully was occasionally very
free with; but, taken together, the whole lot made Blake's story look
unpleasantly probable. Pinnock whistled to himself