Katherine pressed him down into his chair at the desk, sat down in one beside it, and took his hand. "Now, father, tell me just how things stand." "You know everything already," said he. "Not everything. I know the charges of the other side, and I know your innocence. But I do not know your explanation of the affair." He ran his free hand through his silver hair, and his face grew troubled. "My explanation agrees with what you have read, except that I did not know I was being bribed." "H'm!" Her brow wrinkled thoughtfully and she was silent for a moment. "Suppose we go back to the very beginning, father, and run over the whole affair. Try to remember. In the early stages of negotiations, did the agent say anything to you about money?" He did not speak for a minute or more. "Now that I think it over, he did say something about its being worth my while if his filter was accepted." "That was an overture to bribe you. And what did you say to him?" "I don't remember. You see, at the time, his offer, if it was one, did not make any impression on me. I believe I didn't say anything to him at all." "But you approved his filter?" "Yes." "Mr. Marcy says in the _Express_, and you admit it, that he offered you a bribe. You approved his filter. On the face of it, speaking legally, that looks bad, father." "But how could I honestly keep from approving his filter, when it was the very best on the market for our water?" demanded Doctor West. "Then how did you come to accept that money?" The old man's face cleared. "I can explain that easily. Some time ago the agent said something about the Acme Filter Company wishing to make a little donation to our hospital. I'm one of the directors, you know. So, when he handed me that envelope, I supposed it was the contribution to the hospital--perhaps twenty-five or fifty dollars." "And that is all?" "That's the whole truth. But when I explained the matter to the prosecuting attorney, he just smiled." "I know it's the truth, because you say it." She affectionately patted the hand that she held. "But, again speaking legally, it wouldn't sound very plausible to an outsider. But how do you explain the situation?" "I think the whole affair must be just a mistake." "Possibly. But if so, you'll have to be able to prove it." She thought a space. "Could it be that this is a manufactured charge?" Doctor West's eyes widened with amazement. "Why, of course not! You have forgotten that the man who makes the charge is Mr. Sherman. You surely do not think he would let himself be involved in anything that he did not believe to be in the highest degree honourable?" "I do not know him very well. During the four years he has been here, I have met him only a few times." "But you know what your dearest friend thinks of him." "Yes, I know Elsie considers her husband to be an ecclesiastical Sir Galahad. And I must admit that he has seemed to me the highest type of the modern young minister."