They looked at each other in silence. Dick had a wild impulse to fling himself on his knees, spiritually speaking, and to beg for mercy; but the expression of Mr. Early’s face suggested that all sentiment would fall into cold storage in his breast.
“You’ve been devoting yourself, with a certain amount of success, to digging out the hidden things in other men’s careers,” the tormentor went on with a cheerful sneer. “I suppose it has amused you. I know it amuses me, and it would doubtless amuse the public, to fix attention on this little affair of your own. You must remember that you have this disadvantage: you and your kind are thin-skinned. Billy Barry and his kind are pachyderms.”
He settled back comfortably in his chair and smiled benevolently at Dick’s white face.
“Well?” Dick asked at last hoarsely.
Mr. Early carefully refolded the slip of paper, and tucked it away in his vest pocket, but he spoke with engaging openness.
“It’s yours, my dear boy, the day after the lighting franchise passes over the mayor’s veto. If they fail to pass it, I shall know that you and Mrs. Percival are willing to stand a little public obloquy for the sake of what you consider right. Very creditable to you, I am sure, and damned uncomfortable for your wife.”
Dick still stared at him, and he went on: “I’ll leave you to think it over. In fact, I do not know that it is necessary for me to learn your decision except by your action. Sorry to have to take extreme measures, but it’s every one for himself, in this world.”
He went out, and Dick sank into a chair and stared at his toes and the ashes.
“What’s the use?” he said to himself. “She didn’t know what she was doing. I can’t change it or her.”
Winter went on, and Ellery and Madeline were married. Dick squandered himself on their wedding present, and looked like a thunder-cloud as he watched the ceremony. On the day after he returned from his brief honeymoon, Norris started down town to take up the routine of life, irradiated now by love and purpose. The world seemed fresh and fair, and even the face of Billy Barry less unlovely than usual as they met near Newspaper Row.