He reddened, and she added nothing to relieve his embarrassment.

“You think, then—?” And he stopped, uneasy under her gaze.

“Some of the time I don’t think; I just wonder.  And that’s very different, isn’t it?”

He realized now how much he had counted on the kind things he had expected her to say.  He had plainly lost ground with her since their talk on the Madison campus, and he wanted to justify himself, to convince her of his rectitude, and of her failure to understand his part in the convention, but the time and place were unpropitious.

Allen was calling attention to the moonlight and proposing an automobile flight into the country.  His car would hold them all, and he announced himself the safest of chauffeurs.  Mrs. Owen declined, on the double plea that she had business to attend to and did not ride in motor cars even to please Allen Thatcher; Bassett also excused himself; so the rest set off presently under Mrs. Bassett’s chaperonage.

“Are you going downtown, Morton?” asked Mrs. Owen, as they watched the motor roll away.

“No; I’d like to see you on a business matter, Aunt Sally, if you can give me a few minutes.”

“Certainly, Morton; come right in.”

She flashed on the lights in her office where Thomas A. Hendricks still gazed benevolently at Maud S. breaking her record.

“I owe you an apology, Aunt Sally,” Bassett began at once.  “I’m sorry I got you into a lawsuit, but things moved so fast that I didn’t have a chance to pull you out of the way.  Thatcher and I have agreed to disagree, as you doubtless know.”

Mrs. Owen drew her spectacle case from her pocket (there were pockets and deep ones in all her gowns), wiped her glasses and put them on.

“You and Edward do seem to be having a little trouble.  When I got home I found that summons the sheriff left here.  Let me see; it was away back in ’82 that I was sued the last time.  Agent for a cornplanter sued me for a machine I never ordered and it wasn’t worth a farthing anyhow.  That was on my Greene County place.  Just for that I had him arrested for trespass for going on the farm to take away the machine.  He paid the costs all right, and I hope he learned better manners.”

This reminiscence, recalled with evident enjoyment, was not wholly encouraging.  It seemed darkly possible that she had cited a precedent applicable to every case where she was haled before a court.  The chairs in Mrs. Owen’s office were decidedly uncomfortable; Bassett crossed and recrossed his legs, and pressed his hand nervously to his pocket to make sure of his check-book; for he was prepared to pay his wife’s aunt for her shares in the “Courier” newspaper to facilitate her elimination as a co-defendant in the suit at bar.

“It was contemptible of Thatcher to drag you into this, for he knew you took those shares merely to help me out.  I’m sorry it has turned out this way, but I’m anxious to make it right with you, and I’m ready to buy your shares—­at your own price, of course.”