r all information concerning Jim when
I came here fifteen years ago. I was acting under orders, and as Jim would
have known me then I had to keep out of sight a little."

"Vell, and vot has Shirley ever done mit you that you so down on him?"
Hans Wyker asked.

The smooth mask did not drop from Smith's face, save that the small dark
eyes burned with an intense glow.

"I tell you I was acting under orders from Shirley's brother Tank in
Cloverdale, Ohio. And if Dr. Carey hadn't been so blamed quick I'd have
gotten a letter Mrs. Tank Shirley had written to Jim the very day I got to
Carey's Crossing. No brother ever endured more from the hands of a
relative than Tank Shirley endured from Jim. In every way Jim tried to
defraud him of his rights; tried to prejudice their own father against
him; tried to rob him of the girl, a rich girl, too, that he married in
spite Of Jim--and at last contrived to prejudice his wife against him, and
with Jane Aydelot interfering all the time, like the old maid that she is,
managed to get Tank Shirley's only child away from him and given legally
to Jim. Do you wonder Tank hates his brother? You wouldn't if I dared to
tell you all of Jim's cussedness, but some things I'm sworn to secrecy on.
That's Tank's streak of kindness he can't overcome. Gets it from his
mother. I'm his agent, and I'm paid for my work. You both understand me, I
reckon."

"We unterstant, an' we stay py you to der ent," Hans Wyker exclaimed
enthusiastically. But Darley Champers had a different mind.

"I'll watch you, my man, and I'll do business with you accordin'," he said
to himself. "Devil knows whether you are Thomas Smith workin' for Tank
Shirley, or Tank Shirley workin' for hisself under a assoomed name. Long
as I get your capital to push my business I don't care who you are." Aloud
he remarked:

"So that's how Jim Shirley got that little girl. She's a comely youngun,
anyhow. But Smith, since you are only an agent and nobody knows it but us,
why keep yourself so secret? Where's the harm in letting Shirley lay eyes
on you? Why not come out into the open? How'll Shirley know you from the
Mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, anyhow?"

Thomas Smith's face was ashy and his voice was hoarse with anger as he
replied:

"Because I'm not now from Wilmington, Delaware, any more than I ever was.
I'm from Cloverdale, Ohio. You know, Wyker, how I lost money in your
brewery, investing in machinery and starting the thing, only to g