"Put it over!" groaned Epstein. "Mein Gott, I should think you did put it over! You took twenty years off my life, young man; that's von sure thing."
He spoke with feeling, and his appearance bore out his words. Even in these moments of immense relief he looked years older than when he entered the room.
"You'll revive." Laurie turned to Rodney, who was now facing them. "All right, old man?"
"I guess so," gulped Rodney. There was no self-consciousness in his manner. He had passed through blazing hell in the last twenty minutes, and he did not care who knew it.
"Then," urged Laurie, seeking to divert him, "you may give me the details Shaw had to skip. How the dickens did you happen to start this frame-up, anyhow?"
"How much did Shaw tell you?" Rodney tried to speak naturally.
"That the whole adventure was a plant you and Epstein had fixed up to keep me out of mischief," Laurie repeated, patiently. "He explained that you had engaged a company to put it over, headed by Miss Mayo, who is a friend of Mrs. Ordway, and who has a burning ambition to go on the stage. He said you promised her that if she made a success of it, she was to have the leading rôle in our next play. That's about all he told me."
He did not look at Doris as he spoke, and she observed the omission, though she dared not look at him. Also, she caught the coldness of his rich young voice. She hid her face in her hands.
"That's all I know," ended Laurie. "But I want to know some more. Whose bright little idea was this, in the first place?"
"Mrs. Ordway's."