“Stapleton and Fobart Robertson--the adventurer whom Mrs. Jessica married--were hand in glove at that time. Then one day Fobart Robertson found Shanghai too hot to hold him--and if you had ever been in Shanghai, Mrs. Hartsilver, you would know how hot that must have been--and left hurriedly, whereupon Stapleton calmly stepped into his shoes and became to all intents Mr. Robertson--at the club they nicknamed him ‘Fobart’s understudy.’ It created something of a scandal amongst the British population, but in the East the morals of most Europeans are on a lower plane than over here, and after a while the _liaison_ came to be winked at, so that Angela Robertson was once more received as she had been when living with her husband, and Stapleton, being well-to-do and extremely hospitable, and consequently popular, was no longer cold-shouldered. Other friends of Angela Robertson’s in Shanghai were, I remember, Mrs. Stringborg--yes, the woman whose necklace was removed--and a queer fellow called Timothy Macmahon. It was Macmahon’s widow to whom Lord Froissart left all his property, if you remember. Does all this interest you, Mrs. Hartsilver, or am I boring you?” “Boring me!” Cora exclaimed. “I am thrilled! Captain Preston knows nothing of all this, I suppose?” “Not so far as I am aware. Of course it would not do for me to say outside what I have just told you in confidence. Having no evidence in support of my statements I might get myself into serious trouble, to say nothing of ruining my practice.” “Oh, but you will tell Captain Preston?” “I would sooner you told him, Mrs. Hartsilver.” Cora smiled. “So that if either of us should get into trouble it would not be you?” “Precisely,” Johnson replied with a laugh. He was silent for some moments. “And now you may think what I am about to say is strange, Mrs. Hartsilver, but I have rather keen intuition, and something seems to tell me that whatever happened to Preston and Miss Hagerston that evening at Henley, which apparently upset them, Angela Robertson and Stapleton had a hand in it. The idea may sound ridiculous, but that is my strong impression.” “But what can have happened to them, doctor?” “I have no idea--at present. Can’t you induce Miss Hagerston to tell you? You and she are such friends.” “I am afraid not, but I will try.” “Supposing, for instance, that in the ardor of their love for each other they should have been discovered in some apparently compromising, though in reality quite harmless situation--and been blackmailed. Such things happen oftener than you might suppose; not that I suppose you ever think about such things.” Cora glanced at him with an expression of horror. “Is that really so?” she asked. Johnson nodded.