Of course she saw, or thought she saw, the reason for the report of
Old Jimmie's death to Joe Ellison. That report had been sent to escape
an accounting.
As she sat through the night hours the Duchess for the first time felt
warmth creep over her for Maggie. She saw Maggie in the light of a
victim. If Maggie had been brought up as her father had planned, she
might now be much the girl her father dreamed her. But Old Jimmie had
entered the scheme of things. Yes, the audacious, willful, confident
Maggie, bent on conquering the world in the way Old Jimmie and later
Barney Palmer had taught her, was really just a poor misguided victim
who should have had a far different fate.
And now the Duchess came to one of the greatest problems of her life.
What should she do? Considering the facts that Joe Ellison wished the
life of a recluse and desired to avoid all talk of the old days, the
chances were that he would never happen upon the real state of
affairs. Only she and Old Jimmie knew the essentials of the situation--
and very likely Jimmie did not yet know that the friend who had once
trusted him was now a free man. She felt as though she held in her
hands the strings of destiny. Should she tell the truth?
She pondered long. All her considerations were given weight according
to what she saw as their possible effect upon Larry; for Larry was the
one person left whom she loved, and on him were fixed the aspirations
of these her final years.
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