So my brother and May went their way. They left me lonely. For the first time since the day, many years before, when I walked out of the police station alone into the city, the loneliness of life came over me. To-morrow, in the daylight, in the fierce fight of the day, that weakness would go; but to-night there was no hand to reach, no voice to speak, from the multitude of the world. One person only of all would know, would place big and little side by side and reckon them rightly--would understand the ways I had followed to get my ends. Jane Dround would throw them all a smile of contempt, the little ones who weigh and hesitate! There was the soul of the fighter. CHAPTER XXIII HAPPINESS _I learn of Mr. Dround's intentions--A plea for myself--Despots--A woman's heart--The two in the world that are most near--Sarah's cry--Jane defends herself--To go away forever--Vows renewed_ "Henry is simply furious--thinks his name has been involved--and he means to sell every share of stock he holds as soon as the agreement expires." "I knew that he would do just that!" Mrs. Dround threw back her coat and looked up with a mischievous smile on her face. She was a very handsome woman these days, not a month older than when I saw her first. She had reached that point where Nature, having done her best for a woman, pauses before beginning the work of destruction. She had come this afternoon to call on Sarah, and, having failed to find her at home, was writing a note at her desk, when I came in from the day's business, a little earlier than was my wont. "It isn't just that matter of the injunction. You know, my friend, people here in the city--Henry's friends--say that you are engaged in dangerous enterprises--that you are a desperate man yourself! Are you?" "You know better than most!" I answered lightly. "But I am getting tired of all this talk. I had a dose of it in the family the last time." She nodded as I briefly related what had happened with Will and May. "And, of course, Sarah feels pretty badly," I concluded. "Poor child!" she murmured. "I wondered what was the matter with her these days. She will feel differently later. But your brother, that is another question." "He and his wife will never feel differently." She tossed aside the pen she held and rose to her feet. "Never mind! I know you don't mind really--only it is too bad to have this annoyance just now, when you have much on your shoulders. I wish I could _do_ something! A woman's hands are always tied!" She could say no more, and we sat for some time without further talk. I was thinking what would happen when Mr. Dround's stock was dumped on the market, to be snapped up by my enemies. Our company was very near the point of paying dividends, and with a friendly line of railroad giving us an outlet into the Southwest, the struggling venture would be in a powerful position. "If he would wait but six months more!" I broke out at last. She shook her head.