"And I've tried to justify my position in your office. To hold it by sheer merit so that this--this wouldn't--couldn't happen. And now you--your daring to keep me here like this shows me I've failed." "You haven't. You've raised the efficiency of the office forty per cent. I'm turning you over to my brother as a prize. I've got you in mind for the booking end of the business. That's what I think of you." "Oh, Mr. Visigoth, if you knew--if you knew what that would mean to me. I'll give you my best! Let me go on proving to you that I want to stay here to make good on my merits--as man to man!" "I wish to God I could figure you out." "I made it clear--that night--" "But I flattered myself at least that--" "You hadn't that right. Ours was a cold business deal. So much for so much! I never for a moment pretended otherwise. I was in need. Terrible need. I didn't think when I came to you that you would do business on any other terms than you did." "I envy the fellow that awakens you." "Oh, I've been awakened! Awakened to the fact that a woman out in the world has to fight through a barrier of yourselves that you men erect. But I'm not afraid of your barrier. In the last analysis I know, that I have the situation in hand. Every woman has. It is a matter of whether she will or she won't! I had an alternative--that night. Could have taken it, but wouldn't. Would do the same over again. A man invariably takes his cue. You took yours. Even a street masher takes his cue from the look in her eyes whether he will or won't follow up." "Right, but public sentiment is all on the woman's side." "It's worth more to me to know that the situation was in my own hands than it is to play the sensational role of more sinned against than usual." "You're immense." Dryly, "Doubtless, from your point of view." "From any--" "Now look here. I need this position here more desperately than I ever needed anything in my life. It means the success or failure of something that I've staked every card on, of a fight that nobody in the world would understand--possibly not even myself. But that doesn't change the fact that the situation again is mine. I am in a position now to demand fairer terms than I was--then. I return to work to-morrow only on those terms, Mr. Visigoth." The veil of light from the sign fell upon her in the rigidity of her pose and pallor. For some reason she was hugging one of the book-shaped letter files, all the black out in her eyes. He sat down, straddling the chair, his arms across the back and his chin down upon them. "Who are you?" he said, regarding her with the intense squint of one in need of glasses. She felt her power over the moment, and with her old slant for it began to dramatize.