"If you are troubled about any affairs of the company, I ought to know; you should not keep it from me. If it is personal, I have no intention of forcing your confidence. I only want to ask you one thing. Don't you believe that I am your sincere friend?" Helen strove to conceal her agitation. She longed with all her heart to meet half way the open loyalty that was offered her. She longed to show him that she appreciated it, but--how could she be frank with him without disloyalty to Elijah? Elijah had forfeited her respect, but was he wholly to blame? He had absolved her from the obligations of friendship, but there were other obligations that she could not put aside. Together they had assumed business responsibilities, together they must meet them. She longed for Winston's advice, assistance, but how could she accept either without baring the secret shame that was festering in her heart? Strive as she would, she could not wholly control her voice. "You have always been my friend, Ralph. Please try to believe that I appreciate it. You can't know what it means to me and I can't tell you. Won't you trust me a little longer?" She tried to steady the deep black eyes that she raised to him. Winston caught the hand that trembled on the matted needles. "Always, Helen, always." She gently withdrew her hand, rising to go. "Thank you. You may not know what you are promising." There was a pathetic smile hovering over the trembling lips. "Let's stop where we are." "No." Winston was standing beside her. "I know more than you think I do, Helen. Elijah Berl is a thief. You know it and I know it. He has involved you, in appearance at least. You are too honest, too loyal to leave him as he deserves to be left." Helen rose to Elijah's defense. "Not intentionally a thief, Ralph." Winston's eyes flamed with indignation. "He isn't an open, manly thief who steals and stands up to his act. He is a sneak who steals and unloads his punishment on others." Winston's words smote hard. In no essential did they differ from those she had spoken to Elijah. Winston waited for a moment, watching Helen's face. "I know what you mean. He took the money from Mellin and appropriated it to his own use. He got you involved in the Pico deal. That isn't an open crime. It is a sneaking, cowardly crime, in that he is forcing you to bear a part of the odium." Helen's voice faltered, but her eyes did not leave Winston's. "That Pico business was begun before the Pacific failed. You are wrong there." "I am not wrong," Winston burst in hotly. His indignation waxed against Elijah. "He is crooked from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. So long as it was between himself and me I could stand it, but when it comes to you, I will endure it no longer. He will quit or I will break him. I can and I will." "You don't know all, Ralph, or you wouldn't say that." Helen's voice was firmer.