He let her passion run on for a few minutes, and then he sought, as gently as he could, to win her back to some composure. "Some one _has_ told you," he said,--"in time. You don't have to go. Don't be afraid of anything Conward may do. _I_ will settle this score with him." She controlled herself, but when she spoke again her voice had fear and shame in it. "I--I hate to tell you, Mr. Elden, but I must tell you--I--I took--I let him give me some money--to buy things--he said maybe I was short of money, and I would want to buy some new clothes--and he would pay me extra, in advance--and he gave me fifty dollars--and--and--_I've spent it_!" Elden swung on his heel and paced the length of the office in quick, sharp strides. When he returned to where Miss Wardin stood, wrapped about in her misery, his fists were clenched and the veins stood out on the back of his hands. "Scoundrel," he muttered, "scoundrel. And I have been tied to him. I have let him blind me; I have let him set the standards; I have let him _weigh the coal_. Well, now I know him." There was a menace in his last words that frightened even Gladys Wardin, well though she knew the menace was not to her, but ranged in her defence. "Here," he said, taking some bills from his pocket. "You must tell him you can't go--tell him you _won't_ go; you must return his money; I will lend you what you need. Don't be afraid; I will go with you----" "But I can't take _your_ money, either, Mr. Elden," she protested. "I can't stay here any longer; I will have no job, and I can't pay you back. You see I can't take it even from you. What a fool I was! For a few clothes----" "You will continue to work--for me," he said. She shook her head. "No. I can't. I can't work anywhere near him." "You won't need to. The firm of Conward & Elden will be dissolved at once. I have always felt that there was something false in Conward--something that wouldn't stand test. I thought it was in his business life; and yet that didn't quite seem to give the answer. Now I know." There was the sound of a key in the street door, and Conward entered. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Conward paused as he entered the room. He had evidently not expected to find Elden there, but after a moment of hesitation he nodded cordially to his partner. "Almost ready, Miss Wardin?" he asked, cheerily. "Our train goes in----" He took his watch from his pocket and consulted it. Dave's eyes were fixed on the girl. He wondered whether, in this testing moment, she would fight for herself or lean weakly on him as her protector. Her answer reassured him. "It makes no difference when it goes, Mr. Conward. I'm not going on it." Her voice trembled nervously, but there was no weakness in it. The money which Dave had given her was still crumpled in her hand. She advanced to where Conward stood vaguely trying to sense the situation, and held the bills before him. "Here is your money, Mr. Conward," she said.