"Who? Tell me."
"Eades."
She closed her eyes and leaned back; she dropped her arms to her sides and clutched her chair for support. For a long while they did not speak. It was Dick at last who spoke. He seemed to have regained his faculties and his command.
"Bess," he said, "Eades will have no mercy on me. You know that."
She admitted it with a slow nod of her head, her eyes still closed.
"Something must be done. Father--he must be told. Will--will you tell him?"
She sat a moment--it seemed a long moment--without moving, without opening her eyes; and Dick sat there and watched her. Some of the color had come to his face. His eyes were contracting; his face was lined with new scheming.
"Will you tell him, Bess?"
She moved, opened her eyes slowly, wearily, and sighed:
"Yes."