The young man stood immovable, with his hands on the wire and looking
down on them, his face full of doubt and distress.

"I don't want to stand in Annie's way," he repeated, as though to
himself. "I'll do whatever you say. I'll take you to the seventh floor
or I'll drop you to the street. It's up to you, gentlemen," he added,
helplessly, and turning his back to them threw his arm against the wall
of the elevator and buried his face upon it.

There was an embarrassing pause, during which Van Bibber scowled at
himself in the mirror opposite as though to ask it what a man who looked
like that should do under such trying circumstances.

He turned at last and stared at Travers. "'Where ignorance is bliss,
it's folly to be wise,'" he whispered, keeping his face toward his
friend. "What do you say? Personally I don't see myself in the part of
Providence. It's the case of the poor man and his one ewe lamb, isn't
it?"

"We don't want his ewe lamb, do we?" growled Travers. "It's a case of
the dog in a manger, I say. I thought we were going to be fairy
godfathers to 'La Cinderella.'"

"The lady seems to be supplied with a most determined godfather as it
is," returned Van Bibber.

The elevator boy raised his face and stared at them with haggard eyes.

"Well?" he begged.