s have not the same strength of
character."

Porter made a deprecatory gesture, but Dolman proceeded. "What I was
going to say is, that you possibly realize this yourself. You have acted
so wisely, with what I would call Christian forethought, in placing your
son, Alan, in a different walk in life, and--" he turned with a grave
bow in Crane's direction--"and in good hands, too."

"His mother wished it," Porter said, simply.

"Yes, John was very good about Alan's future," the mother concurred.
"But, husband, you quite agreed that it was much better for Alan to be
in the bank than possibly drifting into association with--well, such
dishonorable men as this Mr. Langdon and his friends. He is so much
better off," she continued, "with young men such as Mr. Crane would have
about him."

The Reverend Dolman smiled meekly, but it was in triumph. He had called
attention to an act which spoke far louder than Mr. Porter's disclaiming
words.

Porter was not at all deceived by the minister; in fact, he rather
admired the other's cleverness in beating him on the post. He gave a
little laugh as he said: "I should not have succeeded very well in a
bank. I am more at home with the horses than I am with figures; but I
expect I would have gone fairly straight, and hope the boy will do the
same. I fancy one of the great troubles about banking is to keep the men
honest, the temptation of handling so much money being great. They seem
to have more chances to steal than men on the race course."

As usual, Porter seemed to be speaking out of his thoughts and without
malice; no one took offense. It was simply a straightforward answer to
Dolman's charge.

Porter had simply summed up the whole business in a very small nutshell.
That there was temptation everywhere, and that honest men and thieves
were to be found on race courses, in banks, in every business, but that,
like the horses, a fair share of them were honest.

"Speaking materially of race horses quite outside of the moral aspect,"
said Crane, as he was taking his leave, "you'll have to be mighty
careful of that Diablo, Mr. Porter, when Miss Allis is about; he seems a
vindictive brute."

"Yes, John; you'll have to sell him right away; I'll be frightened to
death while he's about the place."

"I shall never be a bit afraid of him," remonstrated Allis; "Shandy, who
made all the mischief, has been discharged."

"Diablo has always been more trouble than he's worth," said Porter.