"This is final, Mr. Aynesworth?" he asked.
"Absolutely!" was the firm reply.
Barrington bowed stiffly, and moved towards the door. On the threshold
he paused.
"I trust, Mr. Aynesworth," he said hesitatingly, "that you will not
regard this as an ordinary attempt at bribery and corruption. I have
simply asked you to aid me in setting right a great injustice."
"It is a subtle distinction, Mr. Barrington," Aynesworth answered,
"but I will endeavor to keep in mind your point of view."
Barrington drove straight home, and made his way directly to his
study. Now that he was free from his wife's influence, and looked back
upon his recent interview, he realized for the first time the folly
and indignity of the whole proceedings. He was angry that, a man of
common sense, keen witted and farseeing in the ordinary affairs of
life, should have placed himself so completely in a false, not to say
a humiliating position. And then, just as suddenly, he forgot all
about himself, and remembered only her. With a breath of violets, and
the delicate rustling of half-lifted skirts, she had come softly into
the room, and stood looking at him inquiringly. Her manner seemed to
indicate more a good-natured curiosity than real anxiety. She made a
little grimace as he shook his head.
"I have failed," he said shortly. "That young man is a prig!"
"I was afraid," she said, "that he would be obstinate. Men with eyes
of that color always are!"
"What are we to do, Ruth?"
"What can we?" she answered calmly.
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