第99章

"No, not good night by any means.Maybe it's only good mornin'.

Go on and tell me what you mean by bein' at a crisis, as you said a minute ago.""I mean just that.The time has come when I must speak to Maud.Imust find out if--find out how she feels about me.And I can't speak to her, honorably, without telling her everything.And suppose she should care enough for me to--to--suppose she should care in spite of everything, there's her father.She is his only daughter; he worships the ground she steps on.Suppose I tell him I've been," bitterly, "a crook and a jailbird; what will HE think of me--as a son-in-law? And now suppose he was fool enough to consent--which isn't supposable--how could I stay here, working for him, sponging a living from him, with this thing hanging over us all? No, I can't--I can't.Whatever else happens I can't do that.

And I can't go on as I am--or I won't.Now what am I going to do?"He had risen and was pacing the floor.Jed asked a question.

"What does your sister want you to do?" he asked.

"Ruth? Oh, as I told you, she thinks of no one but me.How dreadful it would be for me to tell of my Middleford record! How awful if I lost my position in the bank! Suppose they discharged me and the town learned why! I've tried to make her see that, compared to the question of Maud, nothing else matters at all, but I'm afraid she doesn't see it as I do.She only sees--me.""Her brother.Um...yes, I know."

"Yes.Well, we talked and talked, but we got nowhere.So at last I said I was coming out to thank you for what you did to save me, Jed.I could hardly believe it then; I can scarcely believe it now.It was too much for any man to do for another.And she said to talk the whole puzzle out with you.She seems to have all the confidence on earth in your judgment, Jed.She is as willing to leave a decision to you, apparently, as you profess to be to leave one to your wooden prophet up on the shelf there; what's-his-name--er--Isaiah."

Jed looked greatly pleased, but he shook his head."I'm afraid her confidence ain't founded on a rock, like the feller's house in the Bible," he drawled."My decisions are liable to stick half way betwixt and between, same as--er--Jeremiah's do.But," he added, gravely, "I have been thinkin' pretty seriously about you and your particular puzzle, Charlie, and--and I ain't sure that I don't see one way out of the fog.It may be a hard way, and it may turn out wrong, and it may not be anything you'll agree to.But--""What is it? If it's anything even half way satisfactory I'll believe you're the wisest man on earth, Jed Winslow.""Well, if I thought you was liable to believe that I'd tell you to send your believer to the blacksmith's 'cause there was somethin'

wrong with it.No, I ain't wise, far from it.But, Charlie, Ithink you're dead right about what you say concernin' Maud and her father and you.You CAN'T tell her without tellin' him.For your own sake you mustn't tell him without tellin' her.And you shouldn't, as a straight up and down, honorable man keep on workin'