THE words of the Colossus, spoken delicately though they were, came to Helen like a blow over the heart. But she had the dour courage of the born fighter.
“Surely that remains to be seen.” For the first time in the course of a two years’ friendship with Saul Hartz, a chord of antagonism rang in Helen’s voice.
The Colossus paused a moment to look at her. “True, my dear.” Of a sudden the tone had grown almost deprecatory. “But I do want you to look before and after. You contemplate a very serious step.”
Helen agreed that for herself such a step must prove serious indeed.
“For both of us, my dear. You will be very much missed here.”
She was touched by this magnanimity and also flattered by it, for she knew it to be the frank expression of his mind. The Chief did not want to part with her, that was clear. She had reason to think she had been of use to him and that he had always liked her personally. Certainly from the day of their first meeting in New York she had received exceptional kindness and consideration at his hands.
As far as Saul Hartz himself was concerned, he had known from the outset that she had first-rate abilities. None understood better than he the value of the feminine mind with its faculty of taking short cuts to deep conclusions. By its intuitive “scrapping” of a thousand-and-one considerations that are apt to fetter the slow-moving male it was able to save time and expenditure of spirit and yet “to get there” just the same.
Helen Sholto, over and beyond an exceptionally quick perception, had now become a highly trained woman of the modern world, a brilliant writer and speaker who understood her own sex. Already she counted with that important but elusive entity, the woman voter. She had, too, powers of organization, a real capacity for handling large affairs. Saul Hartz with his flair in such matters saw that her combination of rare qualities was likely to carry her far.
To the Colossus no one was indispensable, but in certain ways he had come to lean rather heavily on Helen Sholto; and he had made up his mind that she must not be allowed to serve in the enemy’s camp.
“I’ve been making plans for you.” Those strange eyes measured hers. “Let me tell you what they are.” The husky whisper was now a caress. “Stay with us here and you shall have something big—a plum worth having. As you know, we are planning a new paper for women that we hope to make the finest property of its kind in existence. Now suppose you take control at double your present salary and with a share in the profits?”