"Thank you," said Alton. "It would mean a good deal to everybody—and now I think I have already stayed too long."
Alice Deringham heard the creaking of a chair, and when she looked round he had gone, but she said very little to any one when the curtain came down again, while Alton, turning in a doorway for a moment, set his lips as he caught the gleam of her hair.
"I think I have done the right thing all round, but it was condemnably hard," he said as he went down the corridor.
By chance he came face to face with Forel a few moments later, and both men stopped. "I am glad I found you," said Alton. "It is only fitting to tell you that for a minute or two I joined your party."
Forel looked uncomfortable. "To be frank, there are unpleasant tales about you, and while they needn't interfere with business one has to——" he said, and stopped.
Alton nodded. "You needn't be too explicit. The tales, so far as you have heard them, are not true. I tell you so on my word of honour—and I want you to show that you believe me by finding Miss Townshead something to do. You can draw on me for the salary if it's necessary."
Forel, who was a good-tempered man, flushed a little. "If there was anything in the stories I should take this very ill."
"Of course," said Alton. "I shouldn't have objected if you had knocked me down, but, as I see you are not quite sure yet, for just five minutes you have got to listen to me."
Forel did so, and nodded when Alton concluded, "I think you should do what I want you to, because in the first place it will give you very little trouble, and if you can't take my word so far, I'm not fit to be trusted with your interests in the big deal we have in hand."
"And in the second?" said Forel, who stood to benefit considerably by the success of the Somasco Consolidated, dryly.