The Second Confesion

“Very well. The police will ask questions. They will be especially interested in my presence here-and Mr Goodwin's. I shall tell them that Mr Sperling suspected that Mr Rony, who was courting his daughter, was a Communist, and that-” “No!” Sperling objected. “You will not! That's-” “Nonsense.” Wolfe was disgusted. “If they check in New York at all, and they surely will, they'll learn that you hired Mr Bascom, and what for, and then what? No; that much they must have. I shall tell them of your suspicion, and that you engaged me to confirm it or remove it. You were merely taking a natural and proper precaution. I had no sooner started on the job, by sending Mr Goodwin up here and putting three men to work, than an assault was made on my plant rooms in the middle of the night and great damage was done. I thought it probable that Mr Rony and his comrades were responsible for the outrage; that they feared I would be able to expose and discredit him, and were trying to intimidate me.

“So today-yesterday now-I came here to discuss the matter with Mr Sperling. He gathered the family for it because it was a family affair, and we assembled in the library. He then learned that what I was after was reimbursement; I wanted him to pay for the damage to my plant rooms. The whole time was devoted to an argument between Mr Sperling and me on that point alone. No one else said anything whatever-at least nothing memorable. You stayed because you were there and there was no good reason to get up and go. That was all.” Wolfe's eyes moved to take them in. “Well? ' “It'll do,” Sperling agreed.