He knocked the ashes from his cigar; and a smile came to his lips.

"It would not have served the purpose of the dramatist, I suppose; his
play would have ended abruptly, and far short of the prescribed time.
He tried to tell a human story and chose an unhuman method."

There was another pause; the smile now disappeared and a thoughtful
look came into his face.

"And yet," he mused, "is the playwright really so far wrong? Is his
stage story very far removed from actuality after all? In Miss Edyth
Vale, we have a girl of most unusual character, of splendid education,
apparently. And yet in the building of her own drama she has
outstripped the inventor of stage plays in the matter of hesitancy.
Her natural inclination urged her to make a firm stand; but other
feelings proved the stronger, and she held her tongue much after the
fashion of the girl in the play."

He was puffing at a second cigar when there came a knock on the door,
and Fuller entered.

"Well?" said Ashton-Kirk.

"I thought you'd perhaps like to look over this data before morning,"
said the young man, as he laid a number of typed sheets and a
photograph at Ashton-Kirk's elbow. "As you required instant action I
got Burgess on the Hume end of it before noon; after luncheon I took
up Morris myself."