Coverly actually appeared to be relieved at this statement, but he
inquired, curiously: "What have you got up your sleeve? You don't
need money."

"Obviously not. But I know a needy object of charity; a worthy
case, I assure you. I can scarcely call him a friend, but I used
to admire him greatly, and he is still an agreeable companion--a
man at once capable, extravagant, entertaining, dissipated. He is
in a bad way, temporarily, and can scarcely afford even the bare
necessities of life. It is only with my help, in fact, that he
maintains its luxuries. Your money shall go to him, and with every
dollar of it that he squanders, there shall arise an earnest
orison to you."

The jeweler was delighted. "Good!" he cried. "I detest the
deserving poor as heartily as you do. And now I'd like to open a
bottle of champagne with our breakfast."

On the very day that the new sign, "Tom and Bob Parker," went up
over the door of the insurance office at Wichita Falls, the junior
partner announced:

"Well, dad, the firm gets busy at once. I'm off for Dallas to-
night."

"What for?" Tom was dismayed by such a prompt manifestation of
energy. "I'll have to tell you--" Barbara perched herself upon
her father's desk and began speaking with a note of excitement in
her voice. "I heard Henry Nelson was in town, so I went to the
bank this morning to see him. He's such a big man in the oil