But he opened the door and held
it for her, and such was the finality of his action that she was obliged
to pass out.
He followed her into the lift and took her down in unbroken silence.
A taxi awaited her. He escorted her to it.
"Good night!" he said then.
She hesitated an instant. Then, without speaking, she gave him her hand.
For a moment his fingers grasped hers.
"You may depend upon me," he said.
She slipped free from his hold. "Thank you," she said, her voice very
low.
A few seconds later Field sat again at his table by the window. The wind
was blowing in from the river in rising gusts. The blind-tassel tapped
and tapped, now here, now there, like a trapped creature seeking
frantically for escape. For a space he sat quite motionless, gazing
before him as though unaware of his surroundings. Then very suddenly but
very quietly he reached out and caught the swaying thing. A moment he
held it, then pulled it to him and, taking a penknife from the table,
grimly, deliberately, he severed the cord.
The tassel lay in his hand, a silken thing, slightly frayed, as if
convulsive fingers had torn it. He sat for a while and looked at it.
Then, with that strange smile of his, he laid it away in a drawer.
CHAPTER II
The trial of Burleigh Wentworth for forgery was one of the sensations of
the season. A fashionable crowd went day after day to the stifling Court
to watch its progress.
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