“You public men are so dull at times! It’s simply that I--well, I don’t want to publish the story, though it is a beautiful story. It’s not only a splendid sensation, but it’s a touch of romance in your stupid politics.” “You want me to pay you not to publish the story--is that it?” Miss Wing grew serious. “Exactly!” Briggs smiled coldly. “Well, you’ve come to the wrong man. I’ve done a good many things in my career that I regret, but I’ve never yet submitted to blackmail.” “That’s a hard word, Mr. Briggs.” Miss Wing glared at Briggs, but he made no comment. “You prefer, then, to have your wife’s name disgraced, perhaps?” she said. “I tell you the whole story is a lie!” “You believe that I’ve made it up, do you?” Briggs laughed contemptuously. “Put any construction on my words that you please,” and he jammed his hand over the bell on the table beside him. “But let me tell you this, once for all: Not to protect my wife or myself will I be cajoled into paying one cent. Publish your article. Do all the mischief you can!” Miss Wing rose indignantly. “I’ll queer your election for you!” she cried, as Michael entered. “Show this lady out, Michael,” said Briggs, quietly. XIX For the next ten minutes Douglas Briggs paced his study. He kept repeating to himself that what that woman had said was impossible; she had come simply to blackmail him; she had supposed him to be an easy mark. But it was strange that Helen’s discovery of his relations with West should have followed so closely the night of the ball in Washington. Could West have been so cowardly as to expose him to her? It flashed upon Briggs that on the very morning after the ball he had found Helen reading his scrapbooks. Why had she done that? What had been a merely commonplace incident now seemed significant. Was she searching those files for support of West’s charges? The idea seemed too hideous, too monstrous. For a moment Briggs had a sensation of having been accused of a crime of which he was innocent. Then he called himself a fool. West had very little respect for women, but he was altogether too experienced, too much a man of the world, to insult a woman like Helen.