“Were you successful in what you went to New York for?”
“I can’t tell yet. It’s too early. But I hope something will come of it.”
He tried to get a glimpse of her face, but she kept it fixed upon the ground—to hide her discomfiture, he thought.
“Now listen to me,” he said kindly, with the kindness of the superior mind. “Here’s what I came to tell you, and I hope you won’t take it amiss. I admire you for the way you took your father’s case when no other lawyer would touch it. You have done your best. But now, I judge, you are at a standstill. At this particular moment it is highly imperative that the case go forward with highest speed. You understand me?”
“I think I do,” she said meekly. “You mean that a man could do much better with the case than a woman?”
“Frankly, yes—still meaning no offense to you. You see how much hangs upon your father’s case besides his own honour. There is the election, the whole future of the city. You see we are really facing a crisis. We have got to have quick action. In this crisis, being in the dark as to what you were doing, and feeling a personal responsibility in the matter, I have presumed to hint at the outlines of the case to a lawyer friend of mine in Indianapolis; and I have engaged him, subject to your approval, to take charge of the matter.”
“Of course,” said Katherine, her eyes still upon the sidewalk, “this man lawyer would expect to be the chief counsel?”
“Being older, and more experienced——”
“And being a man,” Katherine softly supplied.
“He of course would expect to have full charge—naturally,” Bruce concluded.