I'm not in a position to risk anything."
Jeff waited. He thought he knew that reason.
"I'm going to marry Alice Frome if I can."
"You've asked her." Jeff's voice sounded to himself as if it
belonged to another man.
"No. Not yet. Ned Merrill's in the running. Strong, too. He's
being backed by his father and old P. C. Frome. The idea is to
consolidate interests by this marriage. But I've got a fighting
chance. She likes me. Since I went into this political fight
against her father she's taken pains to show me how friendly she
feels. But if this story gets out--I'm smashed. That's all."
"Go to her. Tell her the truth. She'll stand by you," his cousin
urged.
"You don't understand these people, Jeff. I do. Even if she wanted
to stand by me she couldn't. They wouldn't let her. Right now I'm
carrying all the handicap I can."
Jeff walked to the window and stood looking out with his hands in
his pockets. The hum of the busy street rose to his ears, but he
did not hear it. Nor did he see the motor cars whizzing past, the
drays lumbering along, the thronged sidewalks of Powers Avenue. A
door that had for years been ajar in his heart had swung to with a
crash.
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