All the working force of the office had gone out but Miss Brown, who was adjusting her hat preparatory to her departure.
Vance appeared at his office door.
“Bessie,” he said, “I’d like to see you.”
She entered the private room, and stood before him in readiness to take any order he wished to give her.
It was not the old Bessie, but the new one, who always addressed Vance now as Mr. Thornton.
“Bessie,” said Vance, taking both her hands suddenly in his, “aren’t you glad?”
She looked at him in surprise, and then her gaze dropped.
“Aren’t you glad it is all over?” he repeated eagerly, in the old voice that seemed to come to her like an echo from the dead past.
“I don’t know,” she answered, in a trembling tone.
“You don’t know?” he said, almost plaintively. “Don’t you care?”