"All right, if it's private enough for you it is for me. What I want to know is what you mean by telling Wing that Miss Babcock keeps bad company?" "Well, young man, I don't know that this is any of your business, but if you would like to know I will tell you that I meant exactly what I said. I discharged her from my employ for that reason." "Stover, do you mean to call me disreputable?" "I didn't say anything about you to Wing." "You said that she associated with a disreputable young man. You didn't mean Golter, did you?" "No, sir; I didn't." "Then you must have meant me, because Golter and myself are the only young men Miss Babcock has kept company with in this town." "Well, King, I did object to this girl working for me and continuing to keep company with you." "What are your objections to me?" "Well, you're not my kind." "Thank God for that." "You belong to the Ku Klux Klan and that's sufficient to condemn you. I won't stand for an employee of mine associating with one who belongs to those cowardly midnight riders who hide behind a mask." "Stover, I dare you to come out from behind those bars and say that." "I don't have to come out." "No, you are too cowardly. You talk about men hiding behind masks and you hide behind iron bars when your opponent stands before you unmasked. You dirty cur, how can you have the face to talk about cowards and at the same time try to whip me over the shoulders of a defenseless girl?" "I'll not talk to you any longer; my time is valuable." He turned away from the window as Harold said, "Stover, I warn you from now on to keep your dirty tongue off Ruth Babcock." Without replying, Stover went into his private office and closed and bolted the door after him. Harold went directly from the bank to the office of R.G. Wing. He found Mr. Wing alone in his office. "Come in, King, and have a chair," said Wing when he saw Harold in the door. "Mr. Wing, I just learned this morning that a Miss Babcock, who was formerly employed at the Central State Bank, has made application to you for employment." "Yes." "I also heard that Stover told you that she associates with a disreputable young man." "Yes." "I'm that disreputable young man." "You? What are you talking about, Harold? Have you suddenly lost your mind?" King and Wing were well acquainted with each other. They were both members of the Klan, and of the Masonic Order. They both attended the big Bible School class taught every Sunday by Judge Rider. Wing had often referred to Harold as one of the finest, clean-cut fellows in the city. "What kind of a joke are you trying to pull on me, Harold?" he asked. "None whatever. Stover meant me." "He didn't say you." "No, but this young lady, who is as good as gold, has not kept company with any young man in Wilford Springs except myself and a few times with Golter, who is Stover's nephew. There isn't the slightest doubt but that he meant me. In fact he practically admitted it to me."