Part 23 (1/2)

(_Tommy yields, and crosses to right, where he joins Linda in looking out of the window._)

{Margaret}

You might ask me to take a seat

{Knox}

Oh! I beg pardon.

(_He draws up a comfortable chair for her, and seats himself in desk-chair, facing her._)

{Margaret}

I have only a few minutes. Tom is at father's, and I am to pick him up there and go on to that dinner, after I've taken Tommy home.

{Knox}

But your maid?

{Margaret}

Linda? Wild horses could not drag from her anything that she thought would harm me. So intense is her fidelity that it almost shames me. I do not deserve it. But this is not what I came to you about.

(_She speaks the following hurriedly._) After you left this afternoon, something happened. Father received a telegram. It seemed most important. His secretary followed upon the heels of the telegram. Father called Tom and Mr. Hubbard to him and they held a conference. I think they have discovered the loss of the doc.u.ments, and that they believe you have them. I did not hear them mention your name, yet I am absolutely certain that they were talking about you. Also, I could tell from father's face that something was terribly wrong. Oh, be careful! Do be careful!

{Knox}

There is no danger, I a.s.sure you.

{Margaret}

But you do not know them. I tell you you do not know them. They will stop at nothing--at nothing. Father believes he is right in all that he does.

{Knox}

I know. That is what makes him so formidable. He has an ethical sanction.

{Margaret}

(_Nodding._) It is his religion.

{Knox}

And, like any religion with a narrow-minded man, it runs to mania.

{Margaret}

He believes that civilization rests on him, and that it is his sacred duty to preserve civilization.

{Knox}