"Yes, quite matter-of-fact. Where are you going, Mr. Morton?"
"Wherever you wish—even to Columbus."
"What! run away from your work and duty? Where is your conscience?"
"Where my heart is."
"Oh, both are in Columbus. I should think it inconvenient to have them so far off."
I tried to look in her eyes, but she turned them away.
"I can prove that my conscience was in Columbus; I consulted you on every question I discussed in the paper."
"Nonsense! you never wrote me a line."
"I was enjoined not to in a way that made my blood run cold. But I thought Mrs. Vining's opinions might be influenced by a member of her family, and I never wrote a line unmindful of that influence."
Again her laugh rang out. "I should call the place where you wrote the Circumlocution Office. Well, to keep up your way of doing things, that member of the family read most critically all you wrote."