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"Come to the office and we'll talk it over."

"I don't like to go there; Miss Simpson is suspicious."

The institution she spoke of was in another city. It occurred to Wilson

that if she took it the affair would have reached a graceful and legitimate

end.

Also, the thought of another stolen evening alone with her was not

unpleasant. It would be the last, he promised himself. After all, it was

owing to her. He had treated her badly.

Sidney would be at a lecture that night. The evening loomed temptingly

free.

"Suppose you meet me at the old corner," he said carelessly, eyes on the

Lamb, who was forgetting that he was only a junior interne and was glaring

ferociously. "We'll run out into the country and talk things over."

She demurred, with her heart beating triumphantly.

"What's the use of going back to that? It's over, isn't it?"

Her objection made him determined. When at last she had yielded, and he

made his way down to the smoking-room, it was with the feeling that he had

won a victory.

K. had been uneasy all that day; his ledgers irritated him. He had been

sleeping badly since Sidney's announcement of her engagement. At five

o'clock, when he left the office, he found Joe Drummond waiting outside on

the pavement.

"Mother said you'd been up to see me a couple of times. I thought I'd come

around."

K. looked at his watch.

"What do you say to a walk?"

"Not out in the country. I'm not as muscular as you are. I'll go about

town for a half-hour or so."

Thus forestalled, K. found his subject hard to lead up to. But here again

Joe met him more than halfway.

"Well, go on," he said, when they found themselves in the park; "I don't

suppose you were paying a call."

"No."

"I guess I know what you are going to say."

"I'm not going to preach, if you're expecting that. Ordinarily, if a man

insists on making a fool of himself, I let him alone."

"Why make an exception of me?"

"One reason is that I happen to like you. The other reason is that,

whether you admit it or not, you are acting like a young idiot, and are

putting the responsibility on the shoulders of some one else."

"She is responsible, isn't she?"

"Not in the least. How old are you, Joe?"