“Then the affair at the Webster. He insisted we have lunch together for the settlement of the last few details. That wasn’t his purpose at all, of course. You can guess, I suppose, his intentions.... He came out quite suavely with the overwhelming statement that he knew I was supporting a woman and my illegitimate child. He said that he had some of my letters to prove it, and a number of cancelled vouchers of checks I had sent her.... He admitted he had stolen them from me. I hadn’t looked at them for years, of course.... Then he blandly announced that he meant to make capital out of this evidence!” “Blackmail!” muttered Ellery, a light creeping into his eyes. “Yes, blackmail,” retorted Morgan bitterly. “Nothing less. He described in very graphic terms what would happen if the story should come out. Oh, Field was a clever crook! I saw the entire structure of social position I had built up—a process which took years—destroyed in an instant. My wife, her family, my own family—and more than that, the circle in which we moved—I shouldn’t have been able to lift my head out of the muck. And as for business—well, it doesn’t take much to make important clients go elsewhere for their legal work. I was trapped—I knew it and he knew it.” “Just how much did he want, Morgan?” asked Queen. “Enough! He wanted twenty-five thousand dollars—just to keep quiet. I didn’t even have any assurances that the affair would end there. I was caught and caught properly. Because, remember, this was not an affair which had died years before. I was still supporting that poor woman and my son. I am supporting them now. I will—continue to support them.” He stared at his fingernails. “I paid the money,” he resumed morosely. “It meant stretching a bit, but I paid it. But the harm was done. I saw red there at the Club, and—but you know what happened.” “And this blackmail has continued all the while, Morgan?” asked the Inspector. “Yes, sir—for two solid years. The man was insatiable, I tell you! Even to-day I can’t completely understand it. He must have been earning tremendous fees in his own practice, and yet he always seemed to be needing money. No small change, either—I have never paid him less than ten thousand dollars at one time!” Queen and Ellery looked at each other fleetingly. Queen said, “Well, Morgan, it’s a pretty kettle of fish. The more I hear about Field the more I dislike putting the irons on the fellow who did away with him. However! In the light of what you’ve told me, your statement last night that you hadn’t seen Field for two years is patently untrue. When _did_ you see him last?” Morgan appeared to be racking his memory. “Oh, it was about two months ago, Inspector,” he said at last.