Page:Frank Owen - The Actress.djvu/102

86 to a woman even after a thing like this is the very essence of greatness. For my own part, I do not believe I'd have the courage."

"If you really loved a woman, you would. A man's love isn't a cloak that can be worn by any woman. It's made for just one woman. I think that explains everything. Marion Maxwell still has the cloak of my love. The fact that Roger Patterson has won her fairly cannot change the matter."

Dan Burnett sprang from his chair.

"Who did you say?" he cried excitedly.

"Roger Patterson," repeated Barney. "Do you know him?"

"Not intimately. I have run across him several times in business, much to my regret. He has been married once before, but his wife secured a divorce soon after the wedding. She has since died, I hear, so of course that is no drawback to Marion's wedding. And yet there are men in the Exchange who will not shake the hand of Roger Patterson. He is not honorable. Not a single stenographer will work for him. When a man cannot keep a stenographer, there's something wrong somewhere. I lay no specific charge at his feet. He has never committed any crime; his whole life is just given over to petty meanness."

Barney Creighton's face had grown very white. In his excitement, his cigar had slipped from his fingers and rolled to the floor forgotten.

"Tell me all you can about Roger Patterson," he said hoarsely. "Oh, Dan, I think it nothing but right that I should know."