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The Best Man: Part III · The Hermit and the Wild Woman, and other Stories

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  Section thirty one of The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories by Edith
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  Wharton. This librovox recording is in the public domain. The Best Man,
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  Part three. The Governor stared at the card with a frown. Half an
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  hour had elapsed since his wife had gone upstairs to dress for the big dinner,
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  from which official duties excused him, and he was still lingering over the
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  fire before preparing for his own solitary meal. He expected no one that evening
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  but his old friend Hadleigh Shackwell, with whom it was his long established habit
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  to talk over his defeats and victories in the first lull after the conflict,
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  and Shackwell was not likely to turn up till nine o'clock. The unwonted stillness
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  of the room and the knowledge that he had a quiet evening before him,
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  filled the Governor with a luxurious sense of repose. The world seemed to him
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  a good place to be in, and his complacency was shadowed only by the
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  fear that he had perhaps been a trifle over harsh in refusing his wife's plea
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  for the stenographer. There seemed therefore a certain fitness in the appearance of the
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  man's card, and the Governor, with a sigh, gave orders that Gregg
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  should be shown in. Gregg was still the soft stepping scoundrel who invited the
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  toe of honesty, and Warnway as he entered, was conscious of a sharp
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  revulsion of feeling, but it was impossible to evade the interview, and he
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  sat silent while the man stated his case. Missus Mornway had represented the stenographer
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  as being in desperate straits and ready to accept any job that could be found,
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  but though his appearance might have seemed to corroborate her account, he evidently
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  took a less hopeless view of his case, and the Governor found with surprise
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  that he had fixed his eye on a clerkship in one of the government offices,
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  a post which had been half promised him before the incident of the letters.
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  His plea was that the Governor's charge, though unproved, had so injured
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  his reputation that he could only hope to clear himself by getting some sort of
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  small job unto the administration. After that it would be easy for him to
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  obtain any employment he wanted. He met Mornway's refusal with civility, but remarked
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  after a moment. I hadn't expected this, Governor. Missus Mornway led me
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  to think that something might be arranged. The Governor's tone was brief. Missus
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  Mornway is sorry for your wife and children, and for their sake, would
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  be glad to find work for you. But she could not have led you
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  to think that there was any chance of your getting a clerkship. Well,
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  that's just it, she said. She thought she could manage it. You
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  have misinterpreted my wife's interest in your family. Missus Mornway has nothing to do
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  with the distribution of government offices. The governor broke off, annoyed to find
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  himself as severating for the second time so obvious a fact. There was a
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  moment's silence. Then Gregg said, still in a perfectly equable tone. You've
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  always been hard on me, Governor, but I don't bear malice. You
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  accused me of selling those letters to the spy. The governor made an impatient
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  gesture. You couldn't prove your case, Gregg went on, imperturbably, But
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  you were right in one respect. I was on confidential terms with the spy.
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  He paused and glanced at Mornway, whose face remained immovable. I'm on
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  the same terms with them still, and I'm ready to let you have the
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  benefit of it if you'll give me the chance to retrieve my good name.
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  In spite of his irritation, the governor could not repress a smile. In
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  other words, you will do a dirty trick for me if I undertake to
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  convince people that you are the soul of honor. Gregg smiled. Also,
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  there are always two ways of putting a thing. Why not call it a
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  plain case of give and take. I want something and can pay for it,
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  not in any coin I have a use for, said Mornway, pushing
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  back his chair. Gregg hesitated. Then he said, perhaps you don't mean
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  to reappoint Fleetwood. The governor was silent, and he continued, if you
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  do, don't kick me out a second time. I'm not threatening you.
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  I'm speaking as a friend. Missus. Mornway has been kind to my wife,
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  and I'd like to help her. The governor rose, gripping his chair
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  back sternly. You will be kind enough to leave my wife's name out of
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  the discussion. I supposed you knew me well enough to know that I don't
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  buy newspaper secrets at any price, least of all at that of the public
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  money. Gregg, who had risen, also stood a few feet off,
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  looking at him inscrutably. Is that fine old governor quite final? Well,
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  good evening then. End of Section thirty one.