“So far as I am concerned, it is.”
There were no more words on either side. The rector bowed politely, and then left the office, as clear-eyed, as high-minded and unafraid as when he entered it.
But on Westgate’s soul there lay a burden of knowledge which was to tempt him sorely in the days to come.
The story of the sensational episode at the conference with the bishop did not reach Barry Malleson’s ears until the second day after its occurrence. It came, as one might have expected it would, burdened with exaggerations. Barry was greatly disturbed. He walked aimlessly for a while about his quarters at the mill, then he put on his overcoat, hat and gloves, and announced that he was going up to see Phil Westgate. But when he got as far as Main Street he changed his mind, and started down-town instead. It had occurred to him that before attacking Westgate it might be wise to get the facts in the case directly from Mrs. Bradley. He would be more sure of his ground. When he reached Mrs. Bradley’s office in the Potter Building he found her engaged. He excused himself, backed out, paced up and down the hall for a few minutes, and then went down to the street. He did not go back up-town, but he walked down through the wholesale district, picked his way among boxes and barrels, and examined crates of fruit and vegetables and poultry. When, after a half hour, he returned to the office of the League, he found Mrs. Bradley alone. She had expected that he would return, and was waiting for him. It was not an unusual thing for him to visit her there; scarcely a day had passed of late that he had not come in on one errand or another. He was imbibing socialism slowly, as his mental system was able to absorb the doctrine. So far as he understood it he was willing to subscribe to its principles. There was a basic element of justice underlying it all that quite appealed to him. It is true that the socialists of the city did not greatly pride themselves on their secretary’s new convert, but this accession to their ranks gave deep satisfaction to Mrs. Bradley. Not that Barry’s assistance or influence amounted to much, but that she knew the thing to be a thorn in the flesh of Richard Malleson. Lying in the background of her mind, living and throbbing, as it did on that disastrous day in court, was still her revengeful purpose to annoy, to humiliate, to bring to defeat and disaster, if possible, the man who was responsible for her having been sent empty-handed from the hall of justice. Lamar understood her motive and sympathized with her. He even suffered her, without marked protest, to receive Barry’s open attentions. He knew that, in receiving them, the one thought in her mind was to harass the young man’s aristocratic father with the prospect of having for a daughter-in-law that queen of the proletarians, Mary Bradley. There was many a quip passed back and forth between them concerning Barry’s infatuation, and many an exchange of meaning glances, as together they instructed him in the elementary principles of socialism. And Barry, floundering beyond his depth in both philosophy and love, frowned on by his father, upbraided by his mother and sisters, ridiculed by his friends, sought solace ever more and more frequently in the company of the woman who had cast her spell upon him. He did not notice the care-worn look on her face, and the weariness in her eyes, as he reëntered her office that afternoon; the radiance of her smile made all else dim. And there was no abatement from the usual warmth of her welcome.
“I’ve just heard,” said Barry, “about that affair up at Tracy’s night before last. I was going up to have it out with Phil, but I decided to come in and talk it over with you first.”
“I’m so glad you did,” she said. “I don’t want you to have it out with him. I don’t want you to talk with him about it, or even mention it to him.”
“But the thing’s all over town to-day.”
“Who—whom do they say it was who is alleged to have been with me on the bridge?”
“Why, Phil and that crowd allow it was Steve, but some say it was me. Now, you know I wasn’t there.”
The look of anxiety dropped from her face and she laughed merrily.