Reggie leant forward eagerly.
"Mr. Gray, don't be angry, it was just Mr. Bowles coming along. I saw him as I got outside and—and—you know what he is, and—I thought—you could do the Muirend business—and—oh, I wish you would give up this strong drink, it is going to ruin you, body and soul!"
It was out. The bitter truth had been put into words; the young clerk had told his Manager that he knew his sin and degradation. The words had been spoken, and never again could things be as they had been before they were spoken, and Reggie knew it, and he knew that the man who sat before him with his face shaded with his hand, was a proud, proud man.
The clock ticked on loudly and evenly. There seemed nothing more for Reggie to say, and Mr. Gray did not break the silence. He was filling in the details of Reggie's broken words and he knew Mr. Bowles well enough to do it very accurately. He had reason to believe that Mr. Bowles had made a special visit on this special morning with intent. He knew, ah, far more truly than Reggie did, that this temptation was ruining his worldly position. Reggie had saved his reputation for this time and he could not but thank him, and yet—and yet—how hard it was to humble himself to say so; and there stretched before his weary eyes those times, coming oftener and oftener, when his reputation would not be saved, and he would sink lower in men's estimation, and that would come to be openly said, which was already a whisper, that the Bank Manager drank.
His thoughts came back to Reggie with a start. Reggie had asked him to give up strong drink!
"Reggie!" he said hoarsely, passing by all else that had been said, "you don't know what you are asking!"
"Yes, I do!" said Reggie firmly, "and you'll want outside help."
"Ah!" said the manager sadly, "I have thought sometimes, that if we'd had a child, Elaine and I, it would have made it easier. I might have done it for the child's sake."
"Suppose that God did not dare to risk the child in your hands," said Reggie solemnly, "suppose, if He sent a child, then you had not the strength to give up the drink?"
And as the words fell from Reggie's lips there came a sound from the outer office that made both the men start.