"Humph! What do I mean? Well, I mean that men say--oh, I've heard them
talk! I don't have to tell you who said it, but I have heard them say
if you hadn't broken old Mr. Henderson all to pieces several years ago
you'd never have been where you are to-day."

"You don't understand that, Marie," Mostyn answered, impatiently.
"Henderson took it to court, and the decision was--"

"Oh, I know!" She tossed her head. "Your lawyers pulled you through
for a rake-off, and the Henderson girls went to work. They live in a
shabby little four-room house not far from here. I often see them at
the wash-tub in the back yard. The old man hates you like a snake, and
so do the girls. I can't blame them. When you get down in the very
dregs through dealing with a person you learn how to hate. The thing
stays in the mind night and day till it festers like a boil and you
want to even up some way."

"Marie, listen to me," Mostyn began, desperately deliberate. "Why
can't we come to an agreement? You want to help your brother out of
his trouble, I am sure. Now, that is a big amount of money, as you
know, and even a banker can't always get up ready funds in such
quantities as that, but suppose I give it to you?"

"You--you give it to me?" she stammered, incredulously, her lips
falling apart, her white teeth showing. "Why, you said, not a month
ago, that you were too hard pushed for money even to--"

"This is different," he broke in. "Through your conduct you are
actually driving me to the wall and I am desperate. I am ready to make
this proposition to you. I will get up that money. I'll send you a