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"Yes."
"I don't know your brothers very well; but from looking at them I judge they're pretty determined
people. They think a great deal of you."
"Indeed, they do." Her vanity prinked slightly at this.
"They would probably want to kill me, and very promptly, for just this much. What do you think
they would want to do if--well, if anything should happen, some time?"
He waited, watching her pretty face.
"But nothing need happen. We needn't go any further."
"Aileen!"
"I won't look at you. You needn't ask. I can't."
"Aileen! Do you mean that?"
"I don't know. Don't ask me, Frank."
"You know it can't stop this way, don't you? You know it. This isn't the end. Now, if--" He
explained the whole theory of illicit meetings, calmly, dispassionately. "You are perfectly safe,
except for one thing, chance exposure. It might just so happen; and then, of course, there would
be a great deal to settle for. Mrs. Cowperwood would never give me a divorce; she has no
reason to. If I should clean up in the way I hope to--if I should make a million--I wouldn't mind
knocking off now. I don't expect to work all my days. I have always planned to knock off at thirty-
five. I'll have enough by that time. Then I want to travel. It will only be a few more years now. If
you were free--if your father and mother were dead"--curiously she did not wince at this practical
reference--"it would be a different matter."
He paused. She still gazed thoughtfully at the water below, her mind running out to a yacht on
the sea with him, a palace somewhere-- just they two. Her eyes, half closed, saw this happy
world; and, listening to him, she was fascinated.
"Hanged if I see the way out of this, exactly. But I love you!" He caught her to him. "I love
you--love you!"
"Oh, yes," she replied intensely, "I want you to. I'm not afraid."
"I've taken a house in North Tenth Street," he said finally, as they walked over to the horses and
mounted them. "It isn't furnished yet; but it will be soon. I know a woman who will take charge."
"Who is she?"
"An interesting widow of nearly fifty. Very intelligent--she is attractive, and knows a good deal of
life. I found her through an advertisement. You might call on her some afternoon when things
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