"That was what the blackmailer saw, was it?" asked Ford. Margaret nodded. "By the way, who paid him?"
"_He_ did," Margaret answered. "I wouldn't have paid a penny. He insisted on paying."
She was watching him anxiously. He was frowning in deep thought. She felt her heart beat more rapidly as he remained for a time without answering.
"It was worth paying for, if the fellow had kept faith," he said at last. "The whole thing 's in that--you don't know what such a secret is worth. It 's the one thing that binds people together out here, Dutch and English, colonials and Transvaalers and all the rest--the color line. But you didn't know."
"Oh, yes," Margaret made haste to correct him. "I did know. But I didn't care and I don't care now. I 'm not going to take that kind of thing into account at all. I won't be bullied by any amount of prejudices."
"It isn't prejudice," said Ford wearily. "Still--we can't go into all that. I 'm glad you explained to me, though."
"You 're wondering still about something," Margaret said. She could read the doubt and hesitation that he strove to hide from her. "Do let 's have the whole thing out. What is it?"
He had half-closed his eyes but now he opened them and surveyed her keenly.
"You 've told me how reasonable the whole thing was," he said, in deliberate tones. "It was reasonable. That part of it 's as right as it can be. I understand the picturesqueness of it all and the sadness; it is a sad business. I could understand your connection with it, too, in spite of the man's hiding from the police, if only he wasn't a nigger. Beg pardon--a negro."
Margaret was following his words intently.
"What has that got to do with it?" she asked.
"You don't see it?" inquired Ford. "Didn't you find it rather awful, being alone with him? Didn't it make you creepy when he touched your hand?"
He was curious about it, apart from her share in the matter. He was interested in the impersonal aspect of the question as well.
"I didn't like his face, at first," admitted Margaret.
"Afterwards I didn't mind it," she replied. "I 'd got used to it, you see."
He nodded. Upon her answer he had dropped his eyes and was no longer looking at her.
"Well, that 's all," he said. "Don't trouble about it any more. You 've explained and--if you care to know--I 'm quite satisfied."