Whether it still exists, God knows--or what they have done with that man
and his dreadful knowledge.

"Helen Benedet may have changed her spiritual identity since she made that
fatal journey, but she can hardly have forgotten what she did. She must
know there is a man who, if he lives, holds her reputation at the mercy of
his silence. Money can do a great deal, but it cannot do everything.

"I am tempted to wish that we--your father and I--could share your
ignorance, could trust as you do. Better a common awakening for us all,
than that I should be the one necessity has chosen to apply the torture to
my son.

"The misery of this will make you hate my handwriting forever. But why do I
babble? You do not hear me. God help you, my dear!"

* * * * *

These words, descriptive of her own emotions, Mrs. Thorne on re-reading
scored out, and copied the last page.

She did not weep. She ached from the impossibility of weeping. She stumbled
away from her desk, tripping in her long robes, and stretched herself out
at full length on the floor, like a girl in the first embrace of sorrow.
But hearing Ito's footsteps, she rose ashamed, and took an attitude
befitting her years.

The letter was absently sealed and addressed; there was no reason why the
shaft should not go home. Yet she hesitated. It were better that she should
read it to her husband first.