"I know all that, Dot." Windsor smiled grimly. "Don't think for a moment that Williams came forward to tell what he knows! On the contrary, I went after Williams and forced him to a showdown; he's incriminated in the affair himself, you see. No, Dot, you may be sure of one thing—I'm trying to be just. I'm not letting any one use me for a tool if I can help it."
"I know, Tom, I know," she responded, and sighed. "Well, I suppose that's all. I know you can't talk about the case, and I don't want to hear about it. But, Tom! You'll be careful? You will? Not to let Macgowan reach you in any way?"
Windsor laughed shortly. "Do you think I'm easily reached?"
"Oh, you know what I mean. That man is so clever, and he hates Reese so vindictively! And he knows so well how to hide himself behind other people."
Tom Windsor patted her hand as it lay beside him.
"My dear Dot, I read law, as they used to call it, under old Judge Williamson—one of your father's best friends. He used to say that the law was an institution for the protection of honest men against rascals, but that the rascals have turned it into a protection against honest men. I've remembered that saying, Dot, mighty often; and as long as I have any connection with the practice of law, I'll try to keep the institution in its original channels. Well, I must say good-by—and I'm glad we've had this little talk."
"So am I, Tom," said Dorothy simply. He alighted and said good-by, and as he turned into the station, Dorothy ordered the car out into the country.
She wanted to get away from home, from town, from every one she knew, out into the open air. Her last hope, faint and half-cherished as it was, had been destroyed by this meeting with Windsor. Only within the past few days had the vague fancy arisen within her—that Macgowan might somehow be connected with the charges against Reese. Now it was gone. There remained only the bitter hurt of her mortal wound.
She knew well enough what she must now expect of the immediate future, and the thought sickened her. Even the sweet springtide all about her furthered the hurt; spring in the world, and winter in her heart!
For her life ahead, Dorothy could make no plans, could take no thought; it was bleak. In another month her parents would be home from Europe, and then something could be settled, some decisive course of action taken. She remembered how, after the wedding, she had surprised her father upon his knees, praying for her happiness; and he cheated and robbed in that very moment by the man she had just married!