finished his story had hastened to admit his guilt.
'Yes. I did it. I took it. But my wife doesn't know. Don't let her know.' He didn't even try to defend his act.
'But you can't possibly remain in my employ,' Mr. Fairchild had replied. 'You've ruined my confidence absolutely. There's no place for you here after this.'
'Of course. I'll go. Only Sheilah, my wife mustn't know why.'
'But you're guilty of acrime. Don't you know the punishment for an act like yours is imprisonment? Don't you know' Mr. Fairchild did not spare Felix.
Felix sat cowed and silent under his merciless arraignment, not stirring a muscle, staring at the floor. Afterward, 'Yes, I know,' he said, 'but please don't tell my wife. It will be worse than prison for Sheilah if she finds out. You see she believes things like this are inherited, and we've got three children. Oh, Mr. Fairchild, have my children got to know too? Laetitia is away at a boarding-school now, making new friends, but if she knows what kind of a father she's gotAnd the boys—our two boys—all their lives they'll know what sort I was, and what they've got in their blood. I never took anything before. Why, if Sheilah knew that IOh, won't you please' Suddenly he broke down, burying his face in his hands.
