Ricardos enters in Act III
of Loyalties and his appearance is a very brief one, therefore only
the slimmest motive and characterization is offered by Galsworthy. Nonetheless,
Galsworthy's dramatic technique is so finely honed that it is possible to glean enough
understanding to answer your question.
"Does Ricardos
blackmail Dancy to threaten his wife?" imples a deliberate motive, an intention, a
motive directed toward Mable Dancy. However, in the brief exchange Ricardos has with
Twisden and Graviter, he acknowledges, directly and indirectly, two motives. The direct
expression of Ricardos' motive is that he wants to see that his daughter has "a
settlement [i.e., monetary compensation] to her from this gentleman [Dancy]." Ricardos
indirectly acknowledged motive is greed as he says that he has spent all the money on
her already except for one note (bank draught legal tender note) that he would use to
buy her a necklace:
I have invested it all on her--every penny-except
this note, for which I had the purpose to buy her a
necklace.
When asked by
Graviter and Twisden whether Ricardos was "blackmailing him" and whether he pressed
Dancy "for this settlement ... with threats you would tell his wife," his only reply was
to shrug and speak of Dancy's honor:
Captain Dancy was a man of honour. He said: "Of
course I will do this." I trusted him. And a month later I did remind him, and he gave
me this money for her.
This
all indicates that Ricardos did not "blackmail Dancy to threaten his wife," although it
is probable his reminder ("a month later I did remind him") may have included a mention
of the fact that Dancy was trying to protect his wife: "he did not wish to give a cheque
because of his marriage." This conclusion is backed up by Graviter's and Twisden's
remarks about Ricardos' behavior--with not a word about blackmail
charges:
TWISDEN. We can't go on with the
case.
GRAVITER. Phew! ...
[...]
GRAVITER ... That man
won't talk--he's too scared.
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