"If I meet Mr. Cowler I will treat him exactly as though nothing had happened," Susannah declared steadily. "I mean that upon meeting him I will bow. I will even--if you ask it--give him any information he may want about the business. But as to going anywhere with him again--I must decline absolutely." "But that is one of the services which we shall have to demand from time to time. Clients come to town. They want an attractive young lady, a lady who will be a credit to them--a description which, I may say, perfectly applies to you--to accompany them about the city. That will be a part of your duties in future. Had the occasion arisen before, it would have been a part of your duties in the past. If Mr. Cowler asks you again to accompany him for the evening, we shall expect you to go." "You never told me," said Susannah after a perceptible interval, during which directly and piercingly she met Mr. Warner's gentle gaze, "that you expected this sort of thing." "My dear young lady," replied Mr. Warner with a kind of bland elegance, "I am very sorry if I did not make that clear." "Then," said Susannah--so unexpectedly that it was unexpected even to herself--"I shall have to give up my position. Please look for another secretary. I shall consider it a favor if you get her as soon as possible." Another pause; and then Mr. Warner asked: "Would you mind waiting here for just a few moments before you make that decision final?" "I will wait," agreed Susannah. "But I will not change my decision." Mr. Warner did not seem at all surprised or annoyed. He arose abruptly, started toward Byan's office. This time he entered and closed the door behind him. A moment later, Susannah realized from the muffled sounds which filtered through the partition that the partners were in conference. She caught the velvety tones of Byan; O'Hearn's soft lilt. And as she sat there, idly tapping the desk with a penholder, something among the memories of that confused morning crept into her mind; spread until it blotted out even the memory of Mr. Cowler. That letter--what did it mean? In her listless, inattentive state of mind, she had opened it carelessly, read it through before she realized that it was addressed not to the Women's Department, but to the company. Had anyone asked her, a moment after she laid it down, just what it said, she could not have answered. Now, her perplexed loneliness brought it all out on the tablets of her mind as the chemical brings out the picture from the blankness of a photographic plate. She glanced at the desk. The letter was not there--Mr. Warner had taken it with him.