irder would have
small credit in his profession. A good bridge is one which will bear the
strain--not only of the pedestrian, but of the elephant. A deluge or an
earthquake may occur and the bridge may tumble, but next time it is
built stronger and better. Thus science progresses and the public
interest is subserved. A driver who overloads his beast is regarded as a
fool or a brute. Perhaps such names are too harsh for those who overload
the moral backbone of an inexperienced subordinate. Surely the fault is
not all on one side. While there are no formulas to calculate the
resiliency of human character, we may demand the same prudence on the
part of the officers of financial institutions as we do from nursemaids,
lumbermen and manufacturers of explosives. Though we may have confidence
in the rectitude of our fellows, we have no right to ignore the
limitations and weaknesses of mankind. It would not outrage the
principles of justice if one who placed needless and disproportionate
strain upon the morals of another were himself regarded as an accessory
to the crime.

VII

The "Duc de Nevers"

"And God gives to every man
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill."
--"The Task"--COWPER.

One morning there lay on my desk a note finely written in pencil and
dated:

TOMBS PRISON.

MONSIEUR:

Will you be so gracious as to extend to the undersigned the courtesy
of a private interview in your office? I have a communication of the
highest importance to make to you.

Respectfully,

CHARLES JULIUS FRANCIS DE NEVERS.

Across the street in the courtyard the prisoners were taking their daily
exercise. Two by two they marched slowly around the enclosure in the
centre of which a small bed of geraniums struggled bravely in mortal
combat with the dust and grime of Centre Street. Some of the prisoners
walked with heads erect and shoulders thrown back, others slouched along
with their arms dangling and their chins resting upon their chests. When
one of them failed to keep up with the rest, a keeper, who stood in the
shade by a bit of ivy in a corner of the wall, got after him. Somehow
the note on the desk did not seem to fit any one of the gentry whom I
could see so distinctly from my window. The name, too, did not have the
customary Tombs sound--De Nevers? _De Nevaire_--I repeated it slowly to
m