"Oh, Mr. Elden, you don't think—you don't think that I—that he—you wouldn't believe that?"
"I think you are absolutely innocent," he said, gravely, "but—it's the innocent thing that gets caught." Suddenly, even in that tense moment, his mind leaped over the gulf of years to the night when he had said to Irene Hardy, "I don't know nothin' about the justice of God. All I know is the crittur 'at can't run gets caught." It was so of Irene's pet; it was so of poor, tubercular Merton; it was to be so of pretty Gladys Wardin——
But the girl had broken into violent tears. "Whatever shall I do—what can I do?" she moaned. "Oh, why didn't somebody tell me? What can I do——"
He let her passion run on for a few minutes, and then he sought, as gently as he could, to win her back to some composure. "Some one has told you," he said,—"in time. You don't have to go. Don't be afraid of anything Conward may do. I will settle this score with him."
She controlled herself, but when she spoke again her voice had fear and shame in it. "I—I hate to tell you, Mr. Elden, but I must tell you—I—I took—I let him give me some money—to buy things—he said maybe I was short of money, and I would want to buy some new clothes—and he would pay me extra, in advance—and he gave me fifty dollars—and—and—I've spent it!"
Elden swung on his heel and paced the length of the office in quick, sharp strides. When he returned to where Miss Wardin stood, wrapped about in her misery, his fists were clenched and the veins stood out on the back of his hands. "Scoundrel," he muttered, "scoundrel. And I have been tied to him. I have let him blind me; I have let him set the standards; I have let him weigh the coal. Well, now I know him." There was a menace in his last words that frightened even Gladys Wardin, well though she knew the menace was not to her, but ranged in her defence.
"Here," he said, taking some bills from his pocket. "You must tell him you can't go—tell him you won't go; you must return his money; I will lend you what you need. Don't be afraid; I will go with you——"
"But I can't take your money, either, Mr. Elden," she protested. "I can't stay here any longer; I will have no job, and I can't pay you back. You see I can't take it even from you. What a fool I was! For a few clothes——"
"You will continue to work—for me," he said.
She shook her head. "No. I can't. I can't work anywhere near him."