“You’re crazy!” he vowed. “Do you suppose I am going to let that fellow give me presents? Be reasonable.” “I am. Esther is givin’ it to you; he has only given it to her.” “It is the same thing. You know it.” “Well, suppose it is. Can’t you see that your acceptin’ it will do more to put you and her back where you were before this upset than anything else in the world? When she sees you willin’ to forget and forgive she will be more ashamed of herself than ever for keepin’ a secret from you. And she won’t keep another one from you--for a while, anyway. Come, that is reasonable, isn’t it?” He did not reply for a moment. Then he raised another objection. “It looks to me as if it would only make things worse,” he said. “If I go down and pat him on the back--instead of knocking him in the head, as I’d like to do--he’ll take it for granted I’m satisfied to have him hanging around after her. He will--why, blast it all! Reliance, he’ll be calling on her at the house next! Of course he will.” “Well, if he does--if he does, at least you will have them both under your nose where you can see for yourself what is goin’ on. And if they get _too_ friendly you can do what you’ve done before, take her away somewhere. You took her to California; now you can take her to--well, to China, if you want to. You can afford it, I guess.” For the first time he seemed to find satisfaction in her counsel. The frown left his face and his eyes brightened. He looked up and nodded. “Humph!” he grunted. “Humph! That’s an idea! Now you _are_ talking. That _is_ an idea! Humph! All right, Reliance. Much obliged. I’ll think it over.” He rose to his feet and turned to the door. “Say,” he said, as if struck by a new and disquieting thought, “you don’t ever tell anybody of my coming down here to--well, to talk things over same as we have to-day? You keep it to yourself, don’t you?” She straightened. “Certainly I do,” she retorted, sharply. “Do you think I go around boastin’ of it?” “Well, I didn’t know but what--” “I don’t. I’m not so proud of havin’ you callin’ on me as all that. You used to come to see me years ago and, if I remember, it was I, and not you, who stopped it then. I can stop it again if it’s necessary. What do you mean by askin’ such a question?” He laughed. “There, there!” he protested. “Don’t fly off the handle. All I meant was--” “I know what you meant. You are ashamed of havin’ to ask a woman’s advice and you don’t want anybody to know that the great Foster Townsend does have to ask for anything. Of course I don’t tell. But if you think nobody knows you come to this house--yes, and doesn’t know it every time you come--it must be because you carry your head so high in the air you can’t see what is on either side of you. I have been asked a dozen times what you come here for. The last time you came--when Esther wasn’t with you, I mean--Abbie Makepeace was waitin’ to ask why you did it.” “Humph! She was, eh? What did you tell her?”