The girl turned upon her savagely.

"If he don't like the way I talk," she cried, "he can come across!"

Mrs. Earle exclaimed in horror. Virtuously her hands were raised in
protest.

"Like hell he will!" she said. "You can't pull that under my roof!"
Wharton looked disturbed.

"Come across?" he asked.

"Come across?" mimicked the girl. "Send me abroad and keep me
there. And I'll swear it was an accident. Twenty-five thousand,
that's all I want. Cutler told me he was going to make you
governor. He can't make you governor if he's in Sing Sing, can he?
Ain't it worth twenty-five thousand to you to be governor? Come
on," she jeered, "kick in!"

With a grave but untroubled voice Wharton addressed Mrs. Earle.

"May I use your telephone?" he asked. He did not wait for her
consent, but from the desk lifted the hand telephone.

"Spring, three one hundred!" he said. He sat with his legs
comfortably crossed, the stand of the instrument balanced on his
knee, his eyes gazing meditatively at the yellow tree- tops.

If with apprehension both women started, if the girl thrust herself