"
"Tell me when you begin on the message," said Peter, still writing.
"Maguire's sent me to you, to tell you to back water. To stop bucking."
"Tell Mr. Maguire I have received his message."
"Oh, that isn't all, and don't you forget it! Maguire's in this for fur
and feathers, and if you go before the convention as a candidate, we'll
fill the air with them."
"Is that part of the message?" asked Peter.
"By that we mean that half an hour after you accept the nomination,
we'll have a force of detectives at work on your past life, and we'll
hunt down and expose every discreditable thing you've ever done."
Peter rose, and the man did the same instantly, putting one of his hands
on his hip-pocket. But even before he did it, Peter had begun speaking,
in a quiet, self-contained voice: "That sounds so like Mr. Maguire, that
I think we have the message at last. Go to him, and say that I have
received his message. That I know him, and I know his methods. That I
understand his hopes of driving me, as he has some, from his path, by
threats of private scandal.
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