"I may tell you that I am _not_ Thomas Sylvester Hobhouse, and that I have never taken liquor enough in my life to hurt myself. I am here to investigate certain things that have been going on in this island, and I'll put one question to you straight, Dr. Rendall. You remember being visited by a certain man Merton last August, When you heard him approaching your house why did you pull down your blind?" That shot went straight home. All the indignation vanished and I saw on the instant I had him at my mercy. "What--what--has that to do with it?" he stammered. "Don't trouble to try and hedge. As a matter of fact I am Merton and I saw the blind go down myself. Since then we have always been on your tracks, Dr. Rendall." "I swear that that had nothing to do with treason!" "You are accused of treason, your relations to O'Brien were very peculiar, and if you can't explain that blind and this entry and a number of other things, you will be in an extremely nasty position." The doctor made no further effort to stand up to me. He sank into a chair while I stood over him, and I knew I was going to hear the truth at last. And yet this sudden collapse, and indeed his whole attitude, were so unexpected that I felt more puzzled than triumphant. "Mr. Merton," he said, "for God's sake don't give me away and I'll tell you the whole truth. My cousin Philip can confirm it--or at least part of it. I came up here because--well, I'd married the wrong woman and gone off the rails a bit and Philip settled me here to keep me straight. I had debts too--I have them still, I may tell you frankly. That's why I took in O'Brien. I wasn't supposed to keep any liquor in the house--that was one of the conditions. But damn it, I wasn't born to be a teetotaler, and that's the plain truth, Mr. Merton. That devil O'Brien found me out and started to blackmail me--" "Blackmail?" I asked. "In his own way. He made me give him liquor--and there we were the pair of us! That's why I pulled down the blind. The decanter and glasses were all out on this table here! And that's why O'Brien was afraid you might be sent by his relations. That was the one thing he was afraid of,--that he might be found out and taken away." I bent over him and sniffed. "You have had a dram now!" I exclaimed. "And it's not the first since you've been here either. You see I'm perfectly frank with you, Mr. Merton. If you like to give me away to Philip--well be d----d, you can if you like. But you'll surely not? I've told you what I've told to no one else."