“You wish to see me, Mrs. Packard?”

“Yes.”  The tremble in this ordinary monosyllable was slight but quite perceptible.  “Mr. Packard has given you a task, concerning the necessity of which I should be glad to learn your opinion.  Do you think it wise to—­to probe into such matters?  Not that I mean to deter you.  You are under Mr. Packard’s orders, but a word from so experienced a man would be welcome, if only to reconcile me to an effort which must lead to the indiscriminate use of my name in quarters where it hurts a woman to imagine it used at all.”

This, with her eyes on his face, of this I felt sure.  Her tone was much too level for her not to be looking directly at him.  To any response he might give of the same nature I had no clue, but his tone when he answered was as cool and deferentially polite as was to be expected from a man chosen by Mayor Packard for his private secretary.  “Mrs. Packard, your fears are very natural.  A woman shrinks from such inquiries, even when sustained by the consciousness that nothing can rob her name of its deserved honor.  But if we let one innuendo pass, how can we prevent a second?  The man who did this thing should be punished.  In this I agree with Mayor Packard.”

She stirred impulsively.  I could hear the rustle of her dress as she moved, probably to lessen the distance between them.  “You are honest with me?” she urged.  “You do agree with Mr. Packard in this?”

His answer was firm, straightforward, and, as far as I could judge, free from any objectionable feature.  “I certainly do, Mrs. Packard.  The hesitation I expressed when he first spoke was caused by the one consideration mentioned,—­my fear lest something might go amiss in C——­ to-night if I busied myself otherwise than with the necessities of the speech with which he is about to open his campaign.”

“I see.  You are very desirous that Mr. Packard should win in this election?”

“I am his secretary, and was largely instrumental in securing his nomination for governor,” was the simple reply.  There was a pause —­how filled, I would have given half my expected salary to know.  Then I heard her ask him the very question she had asked me.

“Do you think that in the event of your not succeeding in forcing an apology from the man who inserted that objectionable paragraph against myself—­that—­that such hints of something being wrong with me will in any way affect Mr. Packard’s chances—­lose him votes, I mean?  Will the husband suffer because of some imagined lack in his wife?”

“One can not say.”  Thus appealed to, the man seemed to weigh his words carefully, out of consideration for her, I thought.  “No real admirer of the mayor’s would go over to the enemy from any such cause as that.  Only the doubtful—­the half-hearted—­those who are ready to grasp at any excuse for voting with the other party, would allow a consideration of the mayor’s domestic relations to interfere with their confidence in him as a public officer.”