"I don't want to talk," she said. "He's gone, yes, and he'll not do anything for a little while, I think. It's enough for to-night--I'm tired. This has been a horrible evening for me. I never thought to see a time like this!" "Horrible for all of us!" exclaimed John Rawn. "That man took advantage of me out there--I ought to have wrung his neck for him, and I would have done it if it hadn't been for you two women. Of course, we don't want scenes if they can be avoided, for there's no telling what talk might run into if it got out. But just the same, Jennie, don't you see--" and his face assumed a still more anxious look--"he can ruin us all whenever he gets ready, and he's wise enough to know that. I can't do anything with him now. Something's gone wrong with him, and I don't know what!" II "No, you don't know what," she said slowly. "I don't think you in the least imagine what!" "Do you, then?" he demanded. "If you do, why don't you tell? Do you know that everything we've got in the world is up at stake on this? He can kill my credit, he can split this company wide open, he can break me in spite of all. See what he's done in return for what I've done for him! Sometimes I wonder if there's such a thing as honor left in the world!" "So! Do you?" She rose now, and would have left him. "Well, I want to talk this over with you. Please, Jennie. Sit down," he said. "Tell me what you said. I want to know where things are, so I can act to-morrow--or maybe even before to-morrow. You don't realize what a hole I'm in." "What did I say to him?" she repeated, looking down at her wrists. "Nothing very much. I told him if he went on he'd ruin us all; that it wasn't right for him to do it. I told him we wanted him--I wanted him--to wait--for my sake." "For your sake?" "Yes, I did," she answered calmly. "I said that." "It was best!" he cried, rising and walking up and down excitedly. "What a mind you have, Jennie--what a woman you are! Where'd I be without you, I wonder now? Why, of course, that was the way! Any man will do anything that _you_ tell him to, especially a young man--of course, of course!" "Thank you," she commented coldly; "thank you very much." III He sought to put a consoling or an explanatory hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off, shivering. "I don't mean anything," he began confusedly. "Get me straight, now. I only wanted to say that when you work for me in this you are working for your own sake also. It's all up to you, Jennie, right now. If you can't land him, we're gone--it's no use my trying to do anything with him. Do you know, I'm _going to send you out after him_." "Send me out?"