Her hand was still on the key of the lamp when the
last word of this mute message reached him. She
turned the wick down, lifted off the globe, and breathed
on the sulky flame.
“They smell less if one blows them out,”
she explained, with her bright housekeeping air.
On the threshold she turned and paused for his kiss.
Wall Street, the next day, had more reassuring reports
of Beaufort’s situation. They were not
definite, but they were hopeful. It was generally
understood that he could call on powerful influences
in case of emergency, and that he had done so with
success; and that evening, when Mrs. Beaufort appeared
at the Opera wearing her old smile and a new emerald
necklace, society drew a breath of relief.
New York was inexorable in its condemnation of business
irregularities. So far there had been no exception
to its tacit rule that those who broke the law of
probity must pay; and every one was aware that even
Beaufort and Beaufort’s wife would be offered
up unflinchingly to this principle. But to be
obliged to offer them up would be not only painful
but inconvenient. The disappearance of the Beauforts
would leave a considerable void in their compact little
circle; and those who were too ignorant or too careless
to shudder at the moral catastrophe bewailed in advance
the loss of the best ball-room in New York.
Archer had definitely made up his mind to go to Washington.
He was waiting only for the opening of the law-suit
of which he had spoken to May, so that its date might
coincide with that of his visit; but on the following
Tuesday he learned from Mr. Letterblair that the case
might be postponed for several weeks. Nevertheless,
he went home that afternoon determined in any event
to leave the next evening. The chances were that
May, who knew nothing of his professional life, and
had never shown any interest in it, would not learn
of the postponement, should it take place, nor remember
the names of the litigants if they were mentioned before
her; and at any rate he could no longer put off seeing
Madame Olenska. There were too many things that
he must say to her.
On the Wednesday morning, when he reached his office,
Mr. Letterblair met him with a troubled face.
Beaufort, after all, had not managed to “tide
over”; but by setting afloat the rumour that
he had done so he had reassured his depositors, and
heavy payments had poured into the bank till the previous
evening, when disturbing reports again began to predominate.
In consequence, a run on the bank had begun, and
its doors were likely to close before the day was
over. The ugliest things were being said of
Beaufort’s dastardly manoeuvre, and his failure
promised to be one of the most discreditable in the
history of Wall Street.
