Dorothy caught her breath. For a moment everything went black before her; she recovered to find Slosson gripping her arm, his face frightened, contrite.
"Oh—I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he cried out. In his voice was a touch of real sincerity. "I should never have told you—"
"Please—go," she whispered faintly.
Slosson regarded her for a moment with a dejected and mournful air, then he took his hat and went to the door. There, he turned.
"Forgive me, Dot! There was no other way—"
She did not respond. She did not even see him go. After a time she found herself at the telephone, calling the Wilmington office. Presently Jimmy's voice came to her.
"Tell me, please!" She wondered at the cool steadiness of her own tone. All her brain was in a mad tumult. "Tell me—were you in Evansville about a month before Reese and I were married? Were you making arrangements then, gathering information and all, for that Food Products reorganization?"
"Why, sure!" came the surprised answer. "I didn't know that any one knew of it, but I was on the job all right. Why?"
"All right—good-by."
Dorothy hung up the receiver. The warning which she was supposed to deliver had been stricken out of her mind. Trembling, she dropped her face in her hands.