Earle as humorous. For the
first time she laughed. "Sammy!" she exclaimed. "He's a lobbygow of
mine. He's worked for me for years. I could send him up the river
if I liked. He knows it." Her tone was convincing. "They both
asked," she continued evenly, "you should keep off until the girl
is out of the country, and fixed." Wharton frowned thoughtfully.
And, observing this, the eyes of the woman showed that, so far,
toward the unfortunate incident the attitude of the district
attorney was to her most gratifying. Wharton ceased frowning. "How
fixed?" he asked. Mrs. Earle shrugged her shoulders.
"Cutler's idea is money," she said; "but, believe me, he's wrong.
This girl is a vampire. She'll only come back to you for more.
She'll keep on threatening to tell the wife, to tell the papers.
The way to fix her is to throw a scare into her. And there's only
one man can do that; there's only one man that can hush this thing
up--that's you."
"When can I see her?" asked Wharton.
"Now," said the woman. "I'll bring her." Wharton could not suppress
an involuntary "Here?" he exclaimed.
For the shade of a second Mrs. Earle exhibited the slightest
evidence of embarrassment.
"My room's in a mess," she explained; "and she's not hurt so much
as Sammy said. He told her she was in bad just to keep her quiet
until you got here."
Mrs. Earle opened one of the doors leading from the room.
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