right. I'll try to undo it all! My boy, you are the only thing on
earth I love. I've been heartless to all the rest of the world,
but I love you. Don't turn against me."

The son stood looking at him in dull wonder. His heart was touched.
He had not thought that this stern man could weep; he began to see
the misery that was breaking him.

"Dad, don't do that," he said, starting toward him. "I'm sorry.
I'm sorry for you."

Bansemer leaped to his feet, his mood changing like a flash.

"I don't want your pity. I want your love and loyalty. I didn't
mean to be weak. Will you leave Chicago with me? I must go. We'll
go at once--anywhere, only together. We can escape if we start now.
Come!"

"I won't go that way!" exclaimed Graydon. "Not like a criminal."

"No? You won't?" There was no answer. "Then, there's nothing more
to say. Go! Leave me alone. I had prayed that you might not have
been like this. Go! I have important business to attend to at
once." He cast his gaze toward the drawer in which the pistol lay.
"I don't expect to see you again. Take this message to the Cables.
Say that I am the only living soul who knows the names of that
girl's father and mother. God alone can drag them from me."

Graydon was silent, stunned, bewildered. His father was trembling
before him, and he opened his lips to utter the question that meant