He asked for my father and appeared anxious to see him.

I told him that father was out of town.

Then he said he would stay in Boston until he came back, that he had information for him that was of the greatest importance, and that when he told father what it was, that he, Langdon, could have anything my father possessed in the way of a job and a competence for life.

It sounded like blackmail--I could think of nothing else coming from Tom Langdon--and I told him so.

That was unfortunate.