"You have saved us from a difficulty, Mr. Cohen," they said. "We intended to speak to you before the day was over. But still, if the story we have seen in several papers is not true--if it does not, after all, refer to you----"
"The story is true," he said, "and it refers to me."
"We regret the necessity," was their reply; "the cashier will pay you a month's salary in lieu of notice."
"I can accept only what is due to me," said Aaron; and shortly afterward he left the office.
He did not return home until evening, and then he said nothing to Rachel of his dismissal. The next day he went out and wandered aimlessly about the streets, choosing the thoroughfares where he would be least likely to be recognized. So the days passed, and still he had not the courage to speak to Rachel.
"Perhaps in another country," he thought, "I may find rest, and Rachel and I will be allowed to pass the remainder of our life in peace."
On Tuesday in the ensuing week he went forth, and with bowed head was walking sadly on when, with a sudden impulse, he wheeled round in the direction of his home. The feeling that impelled him to do this was that he was behaving treacherously to Rachel in keeping the secret from her. He would make her acquainted with his disgrace and dismissal, and never again in his life would he conceal anything from her knowledge. This resolution gave him the courage he had lacked.
"It is as if I were losing faith in her," he murmured. "Love has made me weak where it should have made me strong."
He hastened his steps, and soon reached his home. As he stood for a moment at the door of the sitting room he heard a voice within which he recognized as that of his old rival, Mr. Poynter, and upon his entrance he found that gentleman and his wife together.
Rachel was standing in a dignified attitude, as though in the presence of an enemy; her face was pale and scornful, and Mr. Poynter was manifestly ill at ease. Hearing her husband's footsteps, she extended her hand, and taking his, pressed it to her lips. In this position they must be left for a brief space while an explanation is given of another incident which was to bear directly on the scene, and to bring into it a startling color.