But it was all over now. Maybe not quite all over; for consequences sometimes hang on remarkably; but with a little patience and a little tolerance—Bennet thought—everything would come out clean and all right. The only requirement was to shut up "Eth" and that pick-up friend of hers, Barney Loutrelle.
"Oh, damn him!" Bennet suddenly sat upright in bed when he thought about Barney Loutrelle knowing as much as Ethel and going about loose up near St. Florentin. He had meant to mention Loutrelle to his father and discuss what was to be done about him; but Bennet had been too disturbed following his mention of Jim Quinlan. For Bennet then had realized that his father must be linked with his grandfather in the knowledge of the unfortunate occurrence in the past which still held power to upset the family. Bennet had believed—and he had liked to believe—that his father had been as much out of it as he himself had been kept. But really the fact made no difference; for the thing was past and done and would remain done if Ethel could be controlled and something immediate and adequate said to Barney Loutrelle.
Bennet's mother undertook the task of controlling Ethel the next morning; but though Myra called at Scott Street as early as her dignity permitted, Ethel already was gone. Mrs. Wain knew only that she had departed without expectation of returning before evening.
Ethel had journeyed by street car to Fifty-seventh Street where, after some difficulty, she located the apartment at which James Quinlan had roomed. The woman who had looked after him proved to be wholly ignorant of, and not exceedingly interested in Quinlan's whereabouts and his reasons for leaving; the date of
