"I'll leave the thing to Mrs. Starratt," he said, confidently. "I think I can depend upon her to stand by me, whatever happens…"
Watson reached into his inner coat pocket.
"I've a note from her here," he said, handing Starratt a square envelope.
Fred broke the seal and unfolded the contents deliberately. He read very slowly… When he had finished he read it through again. He sat for some moments on the edge of the bed, tapping his lips with a tentative finger. Finally he rose.
"Well, Mr. Watson," he said, bitterly, "I said I'd stand by Mrs.
Starratt's decision. And I'm a man of my word."
Watson rose also. "You won't regret this, I'm sure," he ventured, heartily. "Meanwhile I'll get busy pulling wires at once. It won't do to let this thing get cold. I'll go right out and see Hilmer now… Any message you'd like to give your wife?"
Fred looked at the man before him searchingly. "No … none!"
Watson bowed himself out… Fred Starratt put both hands to his temples.
CHAPTER X
The days that followed passed in a blur. Fred Starratt went through the motions of living, but they were only motions. Between the intervals of legal adjustments, court examinations, and formal red tape he would lie upon his narrow bed at the hotel reading his wife's message—that sharp-edged message which had shorn him of his strength—as if to dull further his blunted sensibilities. In all this time he saw only Watson. He did not ask for Hilmer or Helen. But one day the attorney said to him: