Had Ruth heard ?--and if she had heard, would she understand?
In his talk he had given her his true self--his standards of honor--his beliefs in what was true and worth having.

When she knew all--and she must know--would she look upon him as a fraud?
That his uncle had been accused of a shrewd scoop in the Street did not make his clerk a thief, but would she see the difference?
All these thoughts surged through his mind as he stood looking into her eyes, her hand in his while he made his adieux.

He had determined, before Morris fired the bomb which shattered his hopes, to ask if he might see her again, and where, and if there could be found no place fitting and proper, she being motherless and Miss Felicia but a chaperon, to write her a note inviting her to walk up through the Park with him, and so on into the open where she really belonged.

All this was given up now.

The best thing for him was to take his leave as quietly as possible, without committing her to anything--anything which he felt sure she would repudiate as soon as she learned--if she did not know already--how undesirable an acquaintance John Breen, of Breen & Co., was, etc.
As to his uncle's share in the miserable transaction, there was but one thing to do--to find out, and from his own lips, if possible, if the story were true, and if so to tell him exactly what he thought of Breen & Co.