ed! nothing succeeds with me. I and my wife and child are
beggars on the face of the earth. It matters little to me whether the
paper succeeds or fails. Thigh has got pretty nearly all of it. When
my debts are paid I shall not have enough to set myself up in rooms."

At the end of a painful silence, Mike said--

"We've had our quarrels, but you've been a damned good friend to me;
it is my turn now to stand to you. To begin with, here is the three
hundred that I won from Thigh. I don't want it. I assure you I don't.
Then there are your rooms in Temple Gardens; I'll take them off your
hands. I'll pay all the arrears of rent, and give you the price you
paid for your furniture."

"What damned nonsense! how can you do that? Take three hundred pounds
from you--the price of your book. You have nothing else in the
world!"

"Yes, I have; it is all right, old chap; you can have the money. The
fact is," he said, "Lady Seeley has left me her whole fortune; the
letter I just received is from the solicitors. They say three
thousand a year in various securities, and a property in Berkshire.
So you see I can afford to be generous. I shall feel much hurt if you
don't accept. Indeed, it is the least I can do; I owe it to you."

The men looked at each other, their eyes luminous with intense and
quickening emotions. Fortune had been so derisive that Mike feared
Frank would break into foolish anger, and that only a quarrel and
worse hatred might result from his offer of assistance.

"It was in my box you met her; I remember the night quite well. You
were with Harding." [Footnote: See _Spring Days_.] The men exchanged
an inquiring look. "She wanted me to go home and have supper with
her; she was in love with me then; I might have been her lover. But I
refused, and I went into the bar and spoke to Lizzie; when she went
off on duty I went and sat with you and Harding. Not long after I saw
you at Reading, in the hotel overlooking the river. I was with
Lizzie." [Footnote: See _Spring Days_.]

"You can't accuse me of having cut you out. You could have got her,
and--"

"I didn't want her; I was in love with Lizzie, and I am still. And
strange as it may appear to you, I regret nothing, at least nothing
that concerns Lizzie."

Mike wondered if this were true. His fingers fidgeted with the
cheques. "Won't you take them?"

Frank took them. It was impossible to continue the conversation.
Frank made a remark, and the young men bade each oth