"This way!" Hilmer said, as he opened a private exit for her.
She found herself in the marble-flanked hallway and presently she gained the sun-flooded street. The blood was pounding at her temples and its throb hurt.
She walked home rapidly, swept by half-formulated impulses that stirred her to almost adolescent self-revelations, yet when she reached her apartment she was quite calm, almost too calm, and outwardly cold.
That night over the black coffee Fred Starratt said to his wife, with an air of restrained triumph:
"Well, I landed the insurance on Hilmer's car to-day."
She flashed him, an enigmatical smile. "Oh, lovely!"…
He sipped his coffee with preening satisfaction.
"Everything is going beautifully," he continued. "I hired an office and began to connect up with two or three firms. That preliminary from Hilmer was a great boost… A man named Kendrick handles all his business, so I've sort of got the street guessing. They can't figure how I could even get a look in… Of course I'm convinced that Kendrick shares his commissions with Hilmer, which is against the rules of the Broker's Exchange. But he didn't ask for any shakedown… Brauer and I ordered some office furniture, and to-morrow I'll advertise for a girl."
"I've got one for you already," she said, deliberately.
"Who?"