"Gordon fired you for talking too much. I thought you had learned your lesson, but it seems you hadn't. Don't blame Miss Gerard for pumping you--her loyalty belongs to Gordon now. But I require loyalty, too. Since you lack it you can go." O'Neil turned as Eliza's door opened; she stood before him, pale, frightened, trembling. "I couldn't help hearing," she said. "You discharge us?" He nodded. "I'm sorry! I've trusted my 'boys' so implicitly that the thought of betrayal by them never occurred to me. I can't have men close to me who make such mistakes as this." "Perhaps there was--an excuse, or the shadow of one, at least. When a man is in love, you know--" Murray wheeled upon Dan and demanded sharply: "What's this?" Then in a noticeably altered tone he asked, "Do you love--Natalie?" "Yes." "Does she love you?" "No, sir!" O'Neil turned back to the girl, saying: "I told Dan, when I hired him, that he would be called upon to dare much, to suffer much, and that my interests must be his. He has disregarded them, and he must go. That's all. There's little difference between treachery and carelessness." "It's--too bad," said the girl, faintly. Dan stood stiff and silent, wholly dazed by the sudden collapse of his fortunes. "I'm not ungrateful for what you've done, Appleton," O'Neil went on. "I intend to pay you well for the help you gave me. You took a chance at the Canon and at Gordon's Crossing. You'll get a check." "I don't want your damned money," the other gulped. "I've drawn my wages." "Nevertheless, I shall pay you well. It's highly probable that you've wrecked the S. R. & N. and ruined me, but I don't intend to forget my obligations to you. It's unfortunate. Call on the cashier in the morning. Good night." He left them standing there unhappily, dumb and stiff with shame. Once outside the house, he plunged down the hill as if fleeing from the scene of some crime. He rushed through the night blindly, for he had loved his assistant engineer, and the memory of that chalk-faced, startled girl hurt him abominably. When he came to the company office he was walking slowly, heavily. He found Gray inside and dropped into a chair: his face was grimly set, and he listened dully to the physician's rambling talk. "I fired Appleton!" he broke out, at last. Gray looked up quickly. "He acknowledged that he--did it. I had no choice. It came hard, though. He's a good boy." "He did some great work, Chief!" "I know! That affair at the Crossing--I intend to pay him well, if he'll accept. It's not that--I like those kids, Stanley. Eliza took it harder than he. It wasn't easy for me, either," he sighed, wearily. "I'd give ten thousand dollars if it hadn't happened. She looked as if I'd struck her." "What did they say?" "Nothing. He has been careless, disloyal--" "You told them so?" O'Neil nodded. "And they said nothing?" "Nothing! What could they say?"