“Yes,” said Jimmy, “I would tell him, not from a desire to harm you, but because this is the only way that I can compel you to refrain from something that would result in inestimable harm to your father.”

CHAPTER XXI.

Jimmy tells the truth.

Mr. Compton returned to the room before Jimmy had discovered whether the girl intended to expose him or not.  She said nothing about the matter during dinner, and immediately thereafter she excused herself, leaving the two men alone.

During the conversation that ensued Jimmy discovered that Bince had been using every argument at his command to induce Compton to let him go, as well as getting rid of the certified public accountants.

“I can’t help but feel,” said Compton, “that possibly there may be some reason in what Mr. Bince says, for he seems to feel more strongly on this subject than almost any question that has ever arisen in the plant wherein we differed, and it may be that I am doing wrong to absolutely ignore his wishes in the matter.

“As a matter of fact, Mr. Torrance, I have reached the point where I don’t particularly relish a fight, as I did in the past.  I would rather have things run along smoothly than to have this feeling of unrest and unpleasantness that now exists in the plant.  I do not say that you are to blame for it, but the fact remains that ever since you came I have been constantly harassed by this same unpleasant condition which grows worse day by day.  There is no question but what you have accomplished a great deal for us of a practical nature, but I believe in view of Mr. Bince’s feelings in the matter that we had better terminate our arrangement.”

Jimmy suddenly noted how old and tired his employer looked.  He realized, too, that for a week he had been fighting an incipient influenza and that doubtless his entire mental attitude was influenced by the insidious workings of the disease, one of the marked symptoms of which he knew to be a feeling of despondency and mental depression, which sapped both courage and initiative.

They were passing through the hallway from the dining-room to the library, and as Compton concluded what was equivalent to Jimmy’s discharge, he had stopped and turned toward the younger man.  They were standing near the entrance to the music-room in which Elizabeth chanced to be, so that she overheard her father’s words, and not without a smile of satisfaction and relief.

“Mr. Compton,” replied Jimmy, “no matter what you do with me, you simply must not let those C.P.A.’s go until they have completed their work.  I know something of what it is going to mean to your business, but I would rather that the reports come from them than from me.”

“What do you mean?” asked Compton.

“I didn’t want to be the one to tell you,” replied Jimmy.  “I preferred that the C.P.A.’s discover it, as they will within the next day or two—­you are being systematically robbed.  I suspected it before I had been there ten days, and I was absolutely sure of it at the time I suggested you employ the C.P.A.’s.  You are being robbed at the rate of approximately one thousand dollars a week.”