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he knew into an anxious, depressed woman in a mackintosh, whom he did
not know at all! He breathed hard for a few minutes, angry at his
sisters for bringing this situation to pass. It was absurd to tame a
girl of Phil's spirit. He had enjoyed, more than anything in his life,
his confidential relations with Phil. It was more for the fun of the
thing than because there was any cause for it that a certain amount of
mystery was thrown about such interviews as this. There was no reason on
earth why Phil shouldn't have entered by the front door in
banking-hours, or visited him in her grandfather's house where he lived.
But he liked the joke of it. He liked all their jokes, and entered
zestfully into all manner of conspiracies with her, to the discomfiture
of the aunts, to thwart their curbing of her liberties. He prided
himself upon his complete self-control, and it was distinctly annoying
to find that Phil's future, seen against a background plastered with her
father's unpaid bills, caused a sudden hot anger to surge in his heart.
Within the range of his ambitions and desires he did as he liked; and he
had a hardened bachelor's fondness for having his way. He walked to the
window and stared out at the street. It grew late and the rain was
gathering volume as though preparing for a night of it.

A truck heavily loaded with boxes and crates of furniture moved slowly
through Franklin Street toward the railway. Amzi was at once alert. He
read much current history in the labels on passing freight, and often
formed the basis for credits therefrom. Was it possible that one of the
bank's customers was feloniously smuggling merchandise out of town to
avoid writs of attachment? Such evils had been known. Phil jumped from
the table and joined him at the window. She knew her Uncle Amzi's mental
processes much better than he imagined; suspicion was writ large on his
countenance.

"Humph!" she said. "That's only the stuff from the Samuel Holton house.
Charlie and Ethel are moving to Indianapolis. That's some of the
furniture they had in their town house here. I saw the crates in the
yard this morning."

"I believe you're right, Phil; I believe you're right."

His eyes opened and shut several times quickly, as he assimilated this
information. Then he recurred to Phil's affairs.

"Speaking of money, Phil, we'll have to do something about those unpaid
bills. In a town like this everybody knows everybody's business--except
yours