"Give it up—on conditions. You'll have your freedom just the same."
"What conditions?"
"Ask your husband to sign approval of my Hudson Bay prospectus as it stands."
"Doesn't he approve it?"
"No," answered Matheson. "That's why I came back."
"What's wrong with it?"
"It gives Larssen control. It's greatly unfair to the public."
"And just for that you came back? What a reason!" Scorn lashed from her. "Yes, Mr Larssen is right! I owe it to my self-respect to be magnanimous. You can return to your mistress—I'll forego my divorce. Sign the papers he wants you to, and you can live out your life as John Rivière. Your money, of course, comes to me."
The shipowner, grimly triumphant, said nothing. Matheson, in his blaze of anger, had turned Olive definitely and finally against himself. There was no call for Larssen to add to the command of her words.
Matheson's anger was spent. A great tiredness crept over his will. He could fight no more. Larssen and Olive had beaten him down—beaten him down through his anxiety to shield Elaine. Why should he sacrifice her for the sake of an altruistic ideal? The public he had striven to protect would not thank him for intervening in their interests. He would be merely a quixotic fool.