"Yes, I understand. But--couldn't you send Madeleine to her parents
in Boston for six months--she has never paid them a visit--but no, I
suppose the scandal would be worse--"

"Far worse. It would look either as if she had run away from me or
as if I had packed her off in disgrace. If I could leave my practice
I'd take her abroad for two years, but I cannot. Nor--to be frank--do
I see why I should be sacrificed further."

"Oh, assuredly not." Masters' tones were even and excessively polite.

"You will take the train tomorrow morning for New York?"

"I cannot leave San Francisco until after the opening of the banks.
The money must be refunded. Besides, I prefer to go by steamer. There
is one leaving tomorrow, I believe. I want time to think before I
arrive in New York."

"And you will promise to have no correspondence with Madeleine
whatever?"

"You might leave us that much!"

"The affair shall end here and now. Do you promise?"

"Very well. But I should like to see her once more."

"That you shall not! I shall not leave her until you are outside the
Golden Gate."