and was rather in the borrowing than in the lending line at present."

Keen Mr. Allen saw through all this in a moment, and his face flushed
angrily in spite of his efforts at self-control. Muttering something
to the effect:

"I thought I would give you a chance to make a good thing," he bade a
rather abrupt "good-morning."

As the pressure grew heavier upon him he was led to do a thing the
suggestion of which a few weeks previously he would have regarded as
an insult. Mrs. Allen had a snug little property of her own, which had
been secured to her on first mortgages, and in bonds that were quiet
and safe. These her husband held in trust for her, and now pledged
them as collateral on which to borrow money to carry through his
gigantic operation. In respect to part of this transaction, Mrs. Allen
was obliged to sign a paper which might have revealed to her the
danger involved, but she languidly took the pen, yawned, and signed
away the result of her father's long years of toil without reading a
line.

"There," she said, "I hope you will not bother me about business
again. Now in regard to this party--" and she was about to enter into
an eager discussion of all the complicated details, when her husband,
interrupting, said:

"Another time, my dear--I am very much pressed by business at
present."

"Oh, business, nothing but business," whined his wife. "You never have