ltering the checks. I
did deny it--no, John, don't shrink away like that! I won't let you go.
No, hold me to you, John, or I can't go on. Don't you see that my
disgrace would be far greater than a man's? I should be cut by everyone,
disowned by my own father, prosecuted by the bank, and sent to prison.
John--don't you understand? Don't look at me like that! They'll put me in
a felon's dock, if you speak. I, your wife, the wife of the rector of St.
Botolph's--think of it!"

She held out her hands appealingly to him; but he thrust her off in
terror, as though she were an evil spirit from another world, breathing
poisonous vapors.

"John, John, you must see that I'm right. Think of Netty. We have a child
who lives. Dick is dead. How does it matter what they say about Dick's
money affairs? He died bravely. His name will go down honored and
esteemed. The glamour of his heroism will blot out any taint of sin his
mother may have put upon him. My denial will save his sister, his father,
his mother--our home. Oh, John, you must see it--you must!"

"You must confess!" he cried, denouncing her with outstretched finger and
in bitter scorn. "You shall!"

"No, no, John," she screamed, wringing her hands in pitiful supplication.
"Speak more quietly."

"You have sullied the name of your dead son with a cowardly crime. Woman!
Woman! This is devil's work. They think our boy fled like a thief with
his pockets full of stolen money, whilst all the time you and I were
evading the just reward of our follies and extravagance."

"John, the money was used to pay your debts and his debts, as well as
mine; to stave off ruin from you and from him as well as from myself, and
to keep Netty's husband for her. Do you think that Harry Bent could
possibly marry Netty, if her mother were sent to jail?"

"Don't bring our children into this, Mary. You--"

"I must speak of Netty--I must! Would she ever forgive us, if her lover
cast her off?"

"And will he marry her, now that her brother is disgraced?"

"Oh, her brother's disgrace is nothing. It is only gossip. They can't
arrest Dick and imprison him. Oh, I couldn't bear it--I couldn't!"

"And, yet, you will see your son's name defamed in the moment of his
glory."

"John, John, I did it to save you. I didn't think of myself. I've never
been afraid to stand by anything I've done before. But this! Oh, take me
away and kill me, shoot me, say that it was an accident, and I'll gladly
endure my punis