th him, now--and for him. And--" her voice dropped
to a whisper, "I love him, oh, so much!"

Ames's steely eyes narrowed. His mouth opened; then shut again with a
sharp snap. That beautiful creature now belonged to him, and to none
other! Were there other claimants, he would crush them without mercy!
As for this apostate priest, Jose--humph! if he still lived he should
rot the rest of his days in the reeking dungeons of San Fernando!

Carmen looked up. "When he comes to me," she said softly, "we are
going to give ourselves to the whole world."

Ames appeared not to hear.

"And--perhaps--perhaps, by that time, you will be--be--"

"Well?" snapped the man, irritated by the return of her thought to
himself.

"Different," finished the girl gently.

"Humph! Different, eh?"

"Yes. Perhaps by that time you will--you will love everybody," she
murmured. "Perhaps you won't go on piling up big mountains of money
that you can't use, and that you won't let anybody else use."

Ames frowned upon her. "Yes?" he said ironically.

"You will know then that Jesus founded his great empire on love. Your
empire, you know, is human business. But you will find that such
empires crumble and fall. And yours will, like all the rest."

"Say," he exclaimed, turning full upon her and seeming to bear her
down by his tremendous personality, "you young and inexperienced
reformers might learn a few things, too, if your prejudices could be
surmounted. Has it ever occurred to you that we men of business think
not so much about accumulating money as about achieving success? Do
you suppose you could understand that money-making is but a side issue
with us?"

"Achieving success!" she echoed, looking wonderingly at him.
"Well--are you--a success?"

He started to reply. Then he checked himself. A flush stole across his
face. Then his eyes narrowed.

"Yes," the girl went on, as if in quiet soliloquy, "I suppose you
are--a tremendous worldly success. And this Ball--it is a splendid
success, too. Thousands of dollars will be raised for the poor. And
then, next year, the same thing will have to be done again. Your
charities cost you hundreds of millions every year up here. And,
meantime, you rich men will go right on making more money at the
expense of your fellow-men--and you will give a little of it to the
poor when the next Charity Ball comes around. It's like a circle,
isn't it?" she said, smiling queerly up at him. "It has no end, you
know."