At any rate, he wouldn’t find that sense of dependence to-night.  And it steeled him somewhat to think, as he resumed his steps, that he would meet now the other side, the hard side hitherto always turned away.  Had he needed no other warning of this, the answer to his note asking for an appointment would have been enough,—­a brief and formal communication signed by the banker’s secretary. . .

“Mr. Parr is engaged just at present, sir,” said the servant who opened the door.  “Would you be good enough to step into the library?”

Hardly had he entered the room when he heard a sound behind him, and turned to confront Alison.  The thought of her, too, had complicated infinitely his emotions concerning the interview before him, and the sight of her now, of her mature beauty displayed in evening dress, of her white throat gleaming whiter against the severe black of her gown, made him literally speechless.  Never had he accused her of boldness, and now least of all.  It was the quality of her splendid courage that was borne in upon him once more above the host of other feelings and impressions, for he read in her eyes a knowledge of the meaning of his visit.

They stood facing each other an appreciable moment.

“Mr. Langmaid is with him now,” she said, in a low voice.

“Yes,” he answered.

Her eyes still rested on his face, questioningly, appraisingly, as though she were seeking to estimate his preparedness for the ordeal before him, his ability to go through with it successfully, triumphantly.  And in her mention of Langmaid he recognized that she had meant to sound a note of warning.  She had intimated a consultation of the captains, a council of war.  And yet he had never spoken to her of this visit.  This proof of her partisanship, that she had come to him at the crucial instant, overwhelmed him.

“You know why I am here?” he managed to say.  It had to do with the extent of her knowledge.

“Oh, why shouldn’t I?” she cried, “after what you have told me.  And could you think I didn’t understand, from the beginning, that it meant this?”

His agitation still hampered him.  He made a gesture of assent.

“It was inevitable,” he said.

“Yes, it’ was inevitable,” she assented, and walked slowly to the mantel, resting her hand on it and bending her head.  “I felt that you would not shirk it, and yet I realize how painful it must be to you.”

“And to you,” he replied quickly.

“Yes, and to me.  I do not know what you know, specifically,—­I have never sought to find out things, in detail.  That would be horrid.  But I understand—­in general—­I have understood for many years.”  She raised her head, and flashed him a glance that was between a quivering smile and tears.  “And I know that you have certain specific information.”

He could only wonder at her intuition.

“So far as I am concerned, it is not for the world,” he answered.