“Why,” Hopford answered, “that was more of the Agency Gang’s dirty work. They invented a scandalous story, which they put up to Preston when he was in his house-boat during Henley week. The story would take too long to tell--George Blenkiron got it at first hand from the Commissioner of Police, and retailed it to me practically word for word. The upshot was that Preston would have either to abet--assisted by Miss Hagerston, whom, I see, he is to marry next week--an attempt to blackmail Mrs. Hartsilver, or himself be ruined financially, which of course would have ended his army career. Members of the gang, Blenkiron tells me the Commissioner of Police assures him, were the originators of those unwholesome rumors which, you remember, were common talk in clubland.” “But how could they ruin Preston? What had he ever done to give the gang an opening?” “Nothing dishonorable, of course; I don’t believe he could be dishonorable if he tried. But it seems that years ago he backed two bills for a brother officer whom he looked upon as a friend. The fellow turned out to be a scoundrel; was cashiered, later became one of the gang’s ‘creatures,’ and actually faked the bills into bills for much larger amounts. And those faked bills were, if Preston refused to help in the plot against Mrs. Hartsilver--it had to do with some compromising letters she had written--to be presented for payment this month. Poor chap! No wonder he has been looking so dreadfully ill of late. It would be interesting to know how many suicides the Agency Gang has been responsible for directly and indirectly. Since that night at Henley Preston has always carried a loaded pistol in his pocket, and he vowed he would shoot that former brother officer of his dead if ever he met him again. And he would have done it, too, and have chanced the consequences. “As for that robbery of Marietta Stringborg’s necklace at the ball at the Albert Hall, the whole thing was a bluff. The pearls were not real, and it was Stringborg himself who took them from his wife at supper and slipped them into Miss Hagerston’s bag. Jessica Mervyn-Robertson had become furious at Yootha Hagerston’s determination to find out all about her, furious, too, with Mrs. Hartsilver, and the others who were making the same attempt--she had heard about these attempts from Stothert, because Preston, Mrs. Hartsilver and Miss Hagerston had several times consulted the Metropolitan Secret Agency--and she had made up her mind to ruin them financially and socially, and indeed that, her first attempt to disgrace Miss Hagerston, might well have been accomplished.