urs for being blackmailed, this is not one
of them," he had lightly remarked at a delightful gang. "Do your
damnedest."

They took him at his word and so completely that the small and early saw
him no more. What was that to him? There were other pastures, less
scrumptious perhaps, but also far less fatiguing. He had not cared, not
a rap. Behind him the yard of brass yodled in a manner quite as lordly
as before. His high-steppers lost none of their sheen; his yacht
retained all its effulgence; so, too, did the glare of his coin. No, he
had not cared. But that was long ago, so long that it might have
happened in an anterior existence. He had not cared then. Age is
instructive. He had learned to since. Moreover, in testimony of his
change of heart, a miracle had been vouchsafed. The affair at the Opera,
attributed to a lunatic, had been buried safely, like his son, the
scandal tossed in for shroud. How freely he had breathed since then! The
little green bottle of menthe he had barely touched. He might live to
see everything forgiven or, what is quite as satisfactory, forgotten.
And now! Columns and columns, endlessly, day in, day out; the Paliser
Case dragged from one court to another, the stench of it exceeded only
by that of the Huns! But, by comparison, blackmail, however bitter, was
sweet. When one may choose between honey and gall, decision is swift.

"What'll she take?"

Jeroloman, who had left his hat on the malachite bench in the hall,
smoothed his gloves. He was about to reply. Before he could, his client
shook a fist at him.

"The slut hasn't a cent. Came to the Place with a bundle, damn her. A
suit like this costs something. Where's she going to get it? What'll she
take?"

Jeroloman looked up from his gloves. "I don't know."

"Then find out."

"I offered Dunwoodie a ponderable amount."

"Well?"

"He refused it."

"Double it, then, triple it."

"Mr. Paliser, I'm sorry, but it won't do."

"Damnation, why not?"

"It is all or nothing with him and maybe nothing in the end. I told him
so. I told him that the courts view with no favour a woman who, having
lived illicitly with a man, claims, on his demise, to be his widow. Such
a claim is but the declaration of a woman entered after the death of her
alleged husband and, as such, is inadmissible under Section 829 of the
Code. I have posted myself very thoroughly in the matter, though I find
it has been held----"

"Damn what has been held. It's all or