CHAPTER XXVI
AN IDOL’S FALL
She turned. Blake had risen from his chair.
“What is it?” she asked.
He came up to her, the proofs still in his hands. He was unsteady upon his feet, like a man dizzy from a heavy blow. The face which she had been accustomed to see only as full of poise and strength and dignity was now supremely haggard. When he spoke he spoke in uttermost despair—huskily, chokingly, yet with an effort at control.
“Do you know what this is going to do to me?” he asked, holding out the proof-sheets.
“Yes,” she said.
“It is going to ruin me—reputation, fortune, future! Everything!”