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And it would be a terrible thing to have such a stigma on her memory. It would have been bad enough had the story been made public while she was alive, but to be disclosed after her death, and to fall heavily on the already overburdened soul of Andrew Barham, would, Nelson felt, be almost too much for the man.

Yet Barham’s face seemed to indicate that he yet hoped to cope with this trouble. It seemed to gleam with a will power that would find some way to meet the enemy, to brave the impending disaster, to conquer the danger.

His strong white teeth were set together with a certain forcefulness of his lower jaw, that betokened to Nelson’s keen eye not only a decision but a desperate will to make good that decision.

“No positive suggestions, Drew,” Nelson said, in answer to his query; “merely a negative suggestion not to go ahead faster than need be. It’s not at all certain that those women will tell—anything. More likely, they won’t. Why would they? Everything they say against Maddy would implicate themselves.”

“But others—those who know about it—yet are not deeply involved”

“Oh, give them the benefit of the doubt. I don’t believe they would tell just to make trouble”

“I know them better than you do, Nick. I’ve heard Maddy and her mother talk gossip until my hair fairly stood on end, at the tables, of woman’s inhumanity to woman. Yet, your advice is good in the main. I’ll go slowly, but I’ll find out and pay such debts as that the Gibbs woman speaks of; and I’ll call on Emmy Gardner and Rosamond Sayre—they were Maddy’s nearest friends, and see what they can do to help me.”

“And ask them to try to keep the whole matter from Mrs. Selden.”