spare
neither time nor money to help you to do it. I have more than doubled
the amount that you would have had, had you taken the mine the day you
came from the hospital. When you prove to me that your story is
true--and we will find some way to prove it, if it IS true--that amount
will be yours at once, without the need of a word from law or lawyers.
If you want my name to that in black and white, come to the office
to-morrow, and you shall have it."

"And you think I'll take it now?" said the old man passionately. "Do
you think that your charity will bring back my dead wife, the three
years of my lost life, the love and respect of my children? Or do you
think that your own wife and children, who deserted you in your wealth,
will come back to you in your poverty? No! Let the mine stay, with
its curse, where it is--I'll have none of it!"

"Go slow, old man; go slow," said Mulrady, quietly, putting on his
coat. "You will take the mine if it is yours; if it isn't, I'll keep
it. If it is yours, you will give your children a chance to sho what
they can do for you in your sudden prosperity, as I shall give mine a
chance to show how they can stand reverse and disappointment. If my
head is level--and I reckon it is--they'll both pan out all right."

He turned and opened the door. With a quick revulsion of feeling,
Slinn suddenly seized Mulrady's hand between both of his own, and
raised it to his lips. Mulrady smiled, disengaged his hand gently, and
saying soothingly, "Go slow, old man; go slow," closed the door behind
him, and passed out into the clear Christmas dawn.

For the stars, with the exception of one that seemed to sparkle
brightly over the shaft of his former fortunes, were slowly paling. A
burden seemed to have fallen from his square shoulders as he stepped
out sturdily into the morning air. He had already forgotten the lonely
man behind him, for he was thinking only of his wife and daughter. And
at the same moment they were thinking of him; and in their elaborate
villa overlooking the blue Mediterranean at Cannes were discussing, in
the event of Mamie's marriage with Prince Rosso e Negro, the
possibility of Mr. Mulrady's paying two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, the gambling debts of that unfortunate but deeply
conscientious nobleman.

CHAPTER VI

When Alvin Mulrady reentered his own house, he no longer noticed its
loneliness. Whether the events of the last few hours had driven it
from