ced by the latter the act expressed the climax of simpering
cowardice. Donaldson, in the first shock of finding himself included
in the same indictment with the very man for whom he had had so little
mercy, felt the same powerlessness that had paralyzed this other. He
was shorn of his strength. He blinked as stupidly at Arsdale as
Arsdale had blinked at him.

But even as he stood with loose lips before the infirm features of the
younger man, he realized that Arsdale's talk had been the chatter of a
child. He had used the phrase idly and, although it was possible he
might in just as idle a mood commit the act itself, Donaldson was
convinced that it was not yet a fixed idea. With this came the
inspiration which gave him a fresh grip upon himself, that revealed his
great opportunity; he would make Arsdale see all that he himself had
learned in these few days. So in reality he would be giving the best
of his life to another.

It was like oxygen to one struggling for breath through congested
lungs. He went to the window and in great deep-chested inhalations
stood for a moment drinking in not only the fresh air but with it the
spirit of the eager, turbulent world which was bathed in it, the world
that he now saw so clearly. The sun flashing from the neighboring
windows glinted its glad message of life; the rumbling of the passing
traffic roared it to him in a thundering message, like that of
shattered sea waves; the deep cello-like undernote of the city itself
sang it to him. And the message of all the voices was just, "It is
good to live! It is good to be!"

He turned back, seeing a new man in the chair before him. Here was a
brother--a brother in a truer sense than a better man could have been.
Coming from different directions, along different roads, through
different temptations, they had reached at last the crumbling edge of
the same dark chasm. They faced the same eternal problem. That made
them brothers. But Donaldson had already seen, already learned; that
made him the stronger brother.

His face was alight, his body alert, as he came to Arsdale's side. The
latter looked up at him in surprise, feeling his presence before he
saw. Donaldson's first words stirred him,

"You can't pull out," he said, "because you 're out already. You must
pull in. Don't you see,--you must pull back!"

"You don't understand what I mean."

"A great deal better than you yourself do. And in the light of that
underst