CHAPTER XXIV
The Secret
The dusk of evening was falling as we were ferried across to the city. I bade Godfrey good-bye, and took a cab direct to my rooms, for I was weary in body and spirit. But a bath and dinner improved both, and at eight o'clock I was ringing at Mr. Royce's door, for I knew how anxious he would be to hear my story, and besides, I owed him some reparation for leaving him alone at the office.
He opened the door himself, and his face brightened at sight of me.
"Why, Lester!" he cried, and shook hands warmly. "Come in. I'm mighty glad to see you."
"I thought you'd like to hear about it," I said.
"Of course I shall. It was like you to think of it."
"I wanted to talk it over with you. It may help to straighten things out. I was afraid there wouldn't be time at the office."
"We are rushed there, and that's a fact. Suppose we go up to the den. We can talk our talk out, there. Though," he added, as he led the way up the stair, "we could do that anywhere to-night. I'm keeping bachelor's hall. That affair at Elizabeth so upset my wife that she's gone away to the mountains to get braced up. Here we are," and he threw open a door.