t
he did not understand, and the dumb question that spoke in his eyes
hurt Robert Morton more than any formulated reproach could have done.
It was human, the young man owned, that the inventor should resent
having been tricked. He himself, throughout the weary watches of the
night, had twisted and turned Janoah's damning testimony, struggling to
explain it away by some simple and harmless interpretation; yet he was
compelled to admit that the facts pointed in but one direction. And if
he was baffled in his search for a way out, how much more so must
Willie be? Why, he would be almost superman if he did not surrender
his faith before such convincing evidence.

To the grief he experienced at forfeiting the little old man's trust,
Robert Morton was also compelled to add the bitterness of discovering
that those whose friendship was dearest to him had betrayed it and used
him as a stool pigeon in a contemptible plot that he would have scorned
to further had he been cognizant of it. He wondered, as he turned
restlessly on his pillow, whether it was Mr. Galbraith with whom the
duplicity originated or whether the conspiracy of yesterday was one of
Snelling's hatching. Was it not possible the employee desired the
invention for his own profit? That, to be sure, would be calamity
enough, but it would at least clear Mr. Galbraith of theft and
reinstate him in the young man's confidence. If only that could be the
answer to the riddle, how thankful he would be!

Well, until he could be brought face to face with the capitalist, it
was futile to attempt to unravel the enigma. How he longed in his
bewilderment for the sympathy and counsel of a fresh perspective! But
on Tiny's discretion he could place no reliance and even had he been
able to do so, everything within him shrank from the disloyalty of
voicing evil against his friends until he had proof. Delight was also
an impossible confidant because of her recently discovered relationship
to the Galbraith family. To breathe a word which might at this
delicate juncture prejudice her against her new relatives would be
contemptible. No, there was nothing to be done but be patient and
maintain in the meantime as close a semblance to a normal attitude as
was possible.

Fortunately the silence that settled down upon the silvered cottage
caused no surprise to any of its occupants. Having been warned not to
chatter, Celestina observed a welcome quietness perfectly understood.
N