in a tone crushed by main force into mere regret.

"You lend money."

"A little, sir, now and then--a very little."

"That is to say, when the security is bad, you have no money in hand;
but when the security is good, nobody has ever found the bottom of
Isaac Levi's purse."

"Our people," said Isaac apologetically, "can trust one another--they
are not like yours. We are brothers, and that is why money is always
forthcoming when the deposit is sound."

"Well," said Meadows, "what you are, I am; what I do on the sly you do
on the sly, old thirty per cent."

"The world is wide enough for us both, good sir--"

"It is!" was the prompt reply. "And it lies before you, Isaac. Go
where you like, for the little town of Farnborough is not wide enough
for me and any man that works my business for his own pocket--"

"But this is not enmity, sir."

Meadows gave a coarsish laugh. "You are hard to please," cried he. "I
think you will find it is enmity."

"Nay! sir, this is but matter of profit and loss. Well, let me stay,
and I promise you shall gain and not lose. Our people are industrious