Mention of those names electrified Dorothy. She leaned forward. Her brain leaped to the conclusion that here was a chance to get some information, some warning, which must reach Reese at once. Perhaps it had something to do with the Wilmington meeting, or could be used there. It was her chance to help her husband. "Sit down, Pete--sit down!" she said sharply. "You have to tell me what's on your mind. I'm with Reese in this fight against Macgowan. Tell me, at once." Slosson dropped into a chair. Her incisive words seemed to shatter his indecision. He broke out into a petulant flood of speech. "Damn it, Dot, how can I tell you? There are things you don't know, never did know, must not know! I don't want to tell you--yet, if I don't reach Reese, it means jail! Can't you see the position I'm in? If I tell you the truth, I'm bound to hurt you deeply; and I don't want to do that. If I don't tell you, if I don't get this message to Reese--it's jail for him." His mental despair, his torturing uncertainty, lay written in his face. "Jail!" repeated Dorothy, low-voiced. Slosson made a gesture of assent, and dropped his chin on his breast. From beneath lowered lids, he was watching keenly, however. Dorothy's first impulse was to bid him go, leave his message unspoken. If Reese actually had any dark secret which had been carefully kept from her knowledge, she did not wish to know it. The impulse was checked. What had this to do with Macgowan, with Ried Williams? The thought was as a goad to her spirit. She leaned forward again to speak. As Slosson glanced up, he met her eyes full. Her blue-steel gaze was so imperative, so penetrating, that the man gave an involuntary start. "Tell me the whole thing, Pete," she ordered swiftly. "I have a right to know. Out with it!" Slosson gestured despairingly. "I'll have to," he muttered. "Reese is going to be indicted in Illinois--perhaps has been indicted by now. He must act at once to save himself." "Indicted! For what?" "For the way he handled Food Products--for fraud in selling the stock." Dorothy closed her eyes for an instant. The dreaded words had come; the impact of them burned her. Food Products! And Slosson's bitter voice continued. "Williams got me to sign the affidavits before I realized what was going on. If I'd dreamed that he was working with Macgowan, that the affidavits were to be used--" "Stop, wait!" exclaimed Dorothy, her eyes terrified. "Tell me exactly what's the trouble, what he did that's wrong! I'll have to understand it all." Slosson lowered his lids and looked down at his hands--perhaps to hide the swift gleam of triumph he could not keep from his eyes.