Louis hesitated a second, then stepped in. Rachel marched processionally upstairs, and with the detachment of a footman announced to Mrs. Maldon that Mr. Fores waited below. "Oh, please bring him up," said Mrs. Maldon, with a mild and casual benevolence that surprised the girl; for Rachel, in the righteous ferocity of her years, vaguely thought that an adverse moral verdict ought to be swiftly followed by something in the nature of annihilation. "Will you please come up," she invited Louis, from the head of the stairs, adding privately--"I can be as stiff as you can--and stiffer. How mistaken I was in you!" She preceded him into the bedroom, and then with ostentatious formality left aunt and nephew together. Nobody should ever say any more that she encouraged the attentions of Louis Fores. "What is the matter, dear?" Mrs. Maldon inquired from her bed, perceiving the signs of emotion on Louis' face. "Has Mr. Batchgrew been here yet?" Louis demanded. "No. Is he coming?" "Yes, he's just been to my digs. Came in his car. Auntie, do you know that he's accusing me of stealing your money--and--and--all sorts of things! I don't want to hide anything from you. It's true I was with Rachel at the cinematograph last night, but--" Mrs. Maldon raised her enfeebled, shaking hand. "Louis!" she entreated. His troubled, ingenuous face seemed to torture her. "I know it's a shame to bother you, auntie. But what was I to do? He's coming up here. I only want to tell you I've not got your money. I've not stolen it. I'm absolutely innocent--absolutely. And I'll swear it on anything you like." His voice almost broke under the strain of its own earnestness. His plaintive eyes invoked justice and protection. Who could have doubted that he was sincere in this passionate, wistful protestation of innocence? "Louis!" Mrs. Maldon entreated again, committing herself to naught, taking no side, but finding shelter beneath the enigmatic, appealing repetition of his name. It was the final triumph of age over crude youth. "Louis!" IV Rachel stood expectant and watchful in the kitchen. She was now filled with dread. She wanted to go up and waken Mrs. Tams, but was too proud. The thought had come into her mind: "His coming like this has something to do with the money. Perhaps he wasn't sulking with me after all. Perhaps ..." But what it was that she dreaded she could not have defined. And then she caught the sound of an approaching automobile. The car threw its shadow across the glazed front door, which she commanded from the kitchen, and stopped. And the front-door bell rang uncannily over her head. She opened the door to Councillor Batchgrew, whose breathing was irregular and rapid. "Has Louis Fores been here?" Batchgrew asked. "He's upstairs now with Mrs. Maldon."