BLANCHE. [_Pathetically._] You did right; I thank you.

STERLING. [_Heartbroken._] Blanche--without hearing a word from me!

BLANCHE. No, I've come now to hear what _you_ have to say.

[_A deep-toned clock strikes eleven._ STERLING, _at the second stroke, takes out his watch with a hurried movement._

WARDEN. [_Quickly._] Eleven o'clock.

STERLING. I wish Warden to leave the room.

BLANCHE. [_Firmly._] And I wish him to stay.

[_A short pause._

STERLING. Well, of what am I accused?

WARDEN. n.o.body wants to accuse you. We want you to make a clean breast of it.

STERLING. Don't you talk to me; let my wife do the talking if you want me to answer.

BLANCHE. Sit down, Aunt Ruth. [RUTH _sits by the table_, WARDEN _stands at back._ STERLING _stands at Right and_ BLANCHE _and_ MASON _sit near the centre._] Aunt Ruth asks you to give her a true account of her trust in you. Mr. Mason is here as her friend and my father's.

STERLING. I haven't said I betrayed her trust. I told her she should _have_ the bonds she wants to-morrow.

BLANCHE. But _will_ she? That's what I want to know. I ask you if you haven't her bonds, to tell us here now,--tell _us_, who have been and must be still the best friends, perhaps the only friends, you can have.

Tell us where we all stand--are we the only ones to suffer or are there others who will perhaps be less generous in their treatment of you? Tell us now while there is time perhaps to save us from public scandal, from the disgrace which would stamp your wife as the wife of a thief, and send your boy out into the world the son of a convict cheat. [_She breaks down, but in a moment controls herself. There is no answer._ STERLING _sinks into a chair, his arms on the table, his head on his arms. A moment's silence._] You _love_ me--I know that. I appeal to your love; let your love of me persuade you to do what I ask. I ask it for your sake and for _mine_! Tell us here the truth now--it will spare me much to-morrow, perhaps--me whom you love--for love of me--

STERLING. [_In an agony._] I'm afraid I'll lose you--

BLANCHE. No, I'll promise to stand by you if you'll only tell _us all_ the truth.

STERLING. [_In a low, shamed voice._] I'll tell _you_, but not _now_--not before all these others.

[BLANCHE _looks up questioningly to_ MASON. MASON _shakes his head._

BLANCHE. It _must_ be _now_, d.i.c.k.

STERLING. No! no! I can't look you in the face and tell it! Let me tell it to you _alone_, later, in the dark.

[BLANCHE _looks up questioningly to_ MASON. _He shakes his head._

BLANCHE. It must be now.

STERLING. No, no, I'm too ashamed, I can't face you; in the dark I'll make a clean breast of it--let me tell you in the dark.

[WARDEN _moves and puts his hand on the electric-light b.u.t.ton beside the doorway at back._

WARDEN. In the DARK, then, _tell it_!

[_He presses the b.u.t.ton and all the lights go out. The stage is in complete darkness; only the voices are heard from the different places in which the actors are last seen._

BLANCHE. [_Quickly._] Remember, to help you to help ourselves, we must know everything. Go on.

STERLING. It began fourteen months ago, after Ned Warden put me on my feet; I got a little ahead--why not get way ahead? There were plenty of men around me making their fortunes! I wanted to equal them--climb as high as they; it seemed easy enough for them, and luck had begun to come my way. We're all climbers of some sort in this world. I was a climber after wealth and everything it brings--

[_He stops a moment._

BLANCHE. [_Her voice comes throbbing with pathetic emotion through the darkness._] And _I_ after _happiness_ and all it brings.

STERLING. [_Deeply moved, his voice trembles for a moment, but only for a moment._] Don't, Blanche, or I can't finish. Well, I borrowed on some of Aunt Ruth's bonds and speculated--I made a hundred thousand in a week! I put back the bonds. But it had been so easy! I could see those bonds grinning at me through the iron side of the vault box. They seemed to smile and beckon, to _beg_ me to take them out into the air again!

They grew to be like living things to me, servants of mine to get me gold--and finally I determined to make one bigger coup than ever! I took Aunt Ruth's bonds out and all the money available in my trust, and put it _all_ into this new company! It seemed so safe. I stood to be a prince among the richest! And, for a day or so, I've known nothing short of a miracle could save me from being wanted by the police! To-night I gave up even the miracle. That's all. It's no use saying I'm sorry.

[_A moment's pause._

MASON. Have others suffered besides Miss Hunter?

STERLING. There is some money of Aunt Ruth's left--stock I couldn't transfer. But I used the money of others--Miss G.o.desby and Ryder's.

MASON. Miss Ruth, a large part of your fortune is gone, used unlawfully by this man. Will you resort to the law?

RUTH. [_Very quietly._] No!

BLANCHE. [_In a voice broken with emotion and grat.i.tude._] Aunt Ruth!

MASON. We can't hope Miss G.o.desby and Ryder will be as lenient! You must go to them in the morning--tell them everything, put yourself at their mercy, ask for time and their silence.

STERLING. _Never!_ I couldn't do it.

MASON. It is the only honorable way out of your dishonorable action--the least you can do!

STERLING. Confess to their faces, and probably to no good? Eat the dust at their feet, and most likely be clapped into prison for it? _No, thank you!_

BLANCHE. Suppose _I_ went to them?

STERLING. You?

RUTH. No! Why should _you_!

STERLING. Yes! Why not? They might keep silent for _her_!

BLANCHE. I would do it for my boy's sake. Yes, _I'll_ go.

STERLING. _Yes!_ _You_ go, Blanche.

RUTH. No, you _shan't_ go--you shan't humiliate yourself in his place!

MASON. Certainly not; and if your husband is willing, we are not willing! _He_ must go.