rsed to me, and are, consequently, my property, for which I have
paid a valuable consideration. They are, therefore, legal claims
against you in the fullest sense, and I am not the man to waive my
rights, or to be thwarted in my purposes. Are you prepared to settle?"

"Not to-day, at least."

"I am not disposed to be too hard with you," said the man, slightly
softening in his tone; "and will say at a word what I will do, and all
I will do. You can take up five hundred of these bills to-day, five
hundred in one week, and the balance in equal sums at two and three
weeks. I yield this much; but, understand me, it is all I yield, and
you need not ask for any further consideration.

"Well, sir, what do you say?" Full five minutes after the collector had
given his ultimatum, he thus broke in upon the perplexed and undecided
silence of the unhappy victim of his own weakness and folly. "Am I to
receive five hundred dollars now, or am I not?"

"Call in an hour, and I will be prepared to give an answer," said
Wilkinson.

"Very well. I'll be here in one hour to a minute," and the man
consulted his watch.

And to a minute was he there.

"Well, sir, have you decided this matter?" said he, on confronting
Wilkinson an hour later. He spoke with the air of one who felt
indifferent as to which way the decision had been made. Without
replying, Wilkinson took from under a paper weight on his desk a check
for five hundred dollars, and presented it to the collector.

"All right," was the satisfied remark of the latter as he read the face
of the check; and, immediately producing his large pocket-book, drew
forth Wilkinson's due-bills, and selecting one for three hundred and
one for two hundred dollars, placed them in his hands.

"On this day one week I will be here again," said the man,
impressively, and, turning away, left the store.

The moment he was out of sight, Wilkinson tore the due-bills he had
cancelled into a score of pieces, and, as he scattered them on the
floor, said to himself--"Perish, sad evidences of my miserable folly!
The lesson would be salutary, were it not received at too heavy a cost.
Can I recover from this? Alas! I fear not. Fifteen hundred more to be
abstracted from my business, and in three weeks! How can it possibly be
done?"

To a certain extent, the lesson was salutary. During the next three
weeks, Wilkinson, who felt a nervous reluctance to enter a
drinking-house lest he should meet Carlton, kept a