Then she opened
them, and looked at her companion.
"Mr. Aynesworth," she said, "are you so poor that you must serve a man
like that?"
He shook his head.
"It is not poverty," he answered. "I knew his history, and I am
interested in him!"
"You write novels, don't you?" she asked.
"I try," he answered. "His story fascinated me. He stands today in a
unique position to life. I want to see how he will come out of it."
"You knew his story--the truth?"
"Everything," he answered. "I heard it from a journalist who was in
court, his only friend, the only man who knew."
"Where is he now?"
"On his way to Japan."
She drew a little breath between her teeth.
"There were rumors," she said. "It was hard for me at first, but I
lived them down. I was very young then. I ought not to have accepted
his sacrifice. I wish to heaven I had not. I wish that I had faced the
scandal then. It is worse to be in the power of a man like this today!
Mr. Aynesworth!"
"Lady Ruth!"
"Do you think that he has the right to keep those letters?"
"I cannot answer that question."
"Will you be my friend?"
"So far as I can--in accordance with my obligations to my employer!"
She tried him no further then, but rose and walked slowly out of the
room. He found her maid, and saw them to their carriage. Then he
returned to the sitting room. Wingrave was smoking a cigarette.
"I am trying the humanizing influence," he remarked.
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