It was a brave blind alley, where to pass was impossible and where, unless they stuck fast, they would have--which was always awkward--publicly to back out.

They were touching bottom assuredly tonight; the whole scene represented the terminus of the cul-de-sac.

So could things go when there was a hand to keep them consistent--a hand that pulled the wire with a skill at which the elder man more and more marvelled.

The elder man felt responsible, but he also felt successful, since what had taken place was simply the issue of his own contention, six weeks before, that they properly should wait to see what their friends would have really to say.

He had determined Chad to wait, he had determined him to see; he was therefore not to quarrel with the time given up to the business.