d wonderful things in Paris and Naples, cabmen
quarrelling and disappointed beggars--but never anything like them
to-day--"

"You mean they were profane?"

"Oh, magnificently--and with such inventiveness! All three begged my
pardon afterwards. I didn't grant it--I blessed them!"

"Did they beg Mr. Ladew's pardon?"

"Ah, Joe!" she reproached him. "He isn't a prig. And he's had to
fight some things that you of all men ought to understand. He's only
been here a few months, but he told me that Judge Pike has been against
him from the start. It seems that Mr. Ladew is too liberal in his
views. And he told me that if it were not for Judge Pike's losing
influence in the church on account of the Beaver Beach story, the Judge
would probably have been able to force him to resign; but now he will
stay."

"He wishes to stay, doesn't he?"

"Very much, I think. And, Joe," she continued, thoughtfully, "I want
you to do something for me. I want you to go to church with me next
Sunday."

"To hear Mr. Ladew?"

"Yes. I wouldn't ask except for that."

"Very well," he consented, with averted eyes. "I'll go."

Her face was radiant with the smile she gave him. "It will make me
very happy," she said.

He bent his head and fumbled over some papers he had taken from his
pocket. "Will you listen to these memoranda? We have a great deal to
go over before eight o'clock."

Judge Pike stood for a long while where Joe had left him, staring out
at the street, apparently. Really he saw nothing. Undoubtedly an image
of blurring foliage, cast-iron, cement, and turf, with sunshine smeared
over all, flickered upon the retinas of his eyes; but the brain did not
accept the picture from the optic nerve. Martin Pike was busy with
other visions. Joe Louden had followed him back to his hidden deeds
and had read them aloud to him as Gabriel would read them on
Judgment-day. Perhaps THIS was the Judgment-day.

Pike had taken charge of Roger Tabor's affairs because the commissions
as agent were not too inconsiderable to be neglected. To make the task
simpler, he had sold, as time went on, the various properties of the
estate, gradually converting all of them into cash. Then, the
opportunity offering, he bought a stock which paid excellent dividends,
had it transferred in blank, because if it should prove to Roger's
advantage to sell it, his agent could do so without any formal delays
between Paris and Canaan. At least, that is wh