ke an undertaker's office. The contrast between that old tomb and
your plant pleases me, Will; it soothes my family pride. You are an able
man and I congratulate you on your success. Sam liked to cut didoes on
thin ice a little too well; but you're a born banker--inherited it from
father; and I guess I didn't do you so ill a turn after all when I cut
loose with Lois and broke up the old partnership. There wasn't enough
room in Montgomery & Holton for all of us."

Several times William shifted his position uneasily. His brother's
flattery merely paved the way to a demand--he was confident of this;
and he had no intention of yielding to demands. To begin advances to
this melancholy wreck would be to establish a precedent for interminable
benefactions. It was better to deal with the matter at once. A clerk
called him out to speak to a customer and when he came back, Jack was
moodily glaring out upon the little court at the rear of the bank.
William did not seat himself again, but stood by the table, as though to
indicate his intention of terminating the interview.

"I can't give you any more time. Just what have you come back for? I'm
entitled to know, and we may as well have it out."

"What have I come back for? I've come back to stay, that's what I'm back
for! I want a job, that's all, and if you won't give me one, I'd like to
know just where your brotherly heart expects me to go."

"You can't stay here, Jack. You've got to clear out. I don't mean to be
hard on you, and I'll give you enough to take you wherever you want to
go; but you can't camp here; you've got to move on. If you'd come back
like a gentleman, it might have been different; but the whole town's
upset. I'd just about lived you down, and here you come back and stir up
the whole mess. The way you came back puts us all in the hole; the
sympathy of the community was swinging round to our side a little, and
even the Montgomerys were making it clear that they were willing to let
bygones be bygones and here you come to spoil it all! And you've not
only got to go, but you've got to go now, this very day by the first
train."

This was received blinkingly. Jack shook his head as though in pity for
his brother's harshness.

"For a man brought up by a Christian father and mother to point the door
to a long-lost brother is painful, Will. It wounds me deeply. I tell you
right now that I'm not going away from here until I get good and ready.
Do you follow me?"

H