"Good heavens, Ella! Have you ever doubted his guilt?"
"No--no; I don't mean that. But, of course, his wife and children
believe in him, and think you were cruel, and he has been out of work
so long that they are starving."
"Send them some money, then; I wonder you thought it necessary to ask."
"I shouldn't have thought it so, but money is not what I want. Mrs.
Gregg is proud, and it is hard to help her in that way. Couldn't you
give him work of some kind--just a little post in a corner?"
"My dear child, the little posts in the corner are just the ones where
honesty is essential. A footpad doesn't wait under a street-lamp!
Besides, how can I recommend a man whom I have dismissed for theft? I
won't say a word to hinder his getting a place, but on my conscience I
can't give him one."
She paused and turned toward the door silently, though without any show
of resentment; but on the threshold she lingered long enough to say:
"Yet you gave Fleetwood his chance!"
"Fleetwood? You class Fleetwood with Gregg? The best man in the State
with a little beggarly thieving nonentity? It's evident enough you're
new at wire-pulling, or you would show more skill at it!"
She met this with a laugh. "I'm not likely to have much practice if my
first attempt is such a failure. Well, I will see if Mrs. Gregg will
let me help her a little--I suppose there is nothing else to be done."
"Nothing that we can do. If Gregg wants a place he had better get one
on the staff of the 'Spy.' He served them better than he did me."