"Shut up!" Rodrigo cut in savagely, at the same time walking quickly, boldly up to Rosner, staring steadily into the madman's eyes.
"Stand still," cried Rosner, but his hand and his voice were wavering. He looked almost pleadingly at Rodrigo. "If you m—move again, I'll shoot."
"No, you won't," said Rodrigo calmly, clearly. "Rosner, if you pull that trigger, what will become of your wife and children?" With a stealthy, quick movement he pushed John Dorning behind him. Rosner made a half-hearted effort to resist as Rodrigo seized his wrist in a clutch of steel and knocked the gun out of the man's weak fingers. Rodrigo put the revolver in his own pocket and, the tension over, stood regarding Rosner with a look of infinite pity. Then the reaction hit the broken man with full force and, suddenly crumpling into a chair, he covered his face with his hands and his thin body was shaken with hacking, convulsive sobs.
John and Rodrigo stood looking at him in silence for a moment, and then Rodrigo said quietly, "You'd better speak to him, John."
Rosner had quieted a little now, and John put his hand upon his bent shoulder. "Don't worry, old man," he said. "I'm terribly sorry. It's a mistake all around. Dad and I would never have let this happen for the world, had we been told anything about it. Forget the vase and the mortgage—and I'll lend you anything you want to see you through."
Rosner raised a haggard, tear-swollen face. "My wife," he whispered huskily, "is sick. And they told her I—I was out of my head."
John patted Rosner's shoulder. "Well, you're all right now, aren't you? Sure—fine."
"I'll telephone Bates, and Madison can see Rosner home and do anything necessary for his wife," Rodrigo suggested in an undertone to John.
"No, I'll go myself," John said. He helped the broken man to his feet and located his hat for him.
Dazed, but strangely sane again and hopeful, Rosner turned to John and said in an awed, puzzled voice, "I meant—to shoot." And, indicating Rodrigo, "It was him that stopped me. Oh, thank God!—thank God!"