onfession to the General and
request his assistance.

"Lend it to you, you scamp!" he exclaimed, when I found him on his front
porch with a palm-leaf fan in his hand. "Of course, I'll lend it to you;
but why in the deuce were you so blamed cheerful this afternoon about
that house in the country? I could have sworn you were in a gale over
the idea. Here, Hatty, bring me a pen. I can see perfectly well by this
damned electric light they've stuck at my door. Well, I'm sorry enough,
for you, Ben. It's hard on your wife, and she's the kind of woman that
makes a man believe in the angels. Her Aunt Matoaca all over--you know,
George, I always told you that Sally Mickleborough was the image of her
Aunt Matoaca."

"I know you did," replied George, twirling the end of his mustache. He
looked tired and anxious, and it seemed to me suddenly that the whole
city, and every face in it, under the white blaze of the electric light,
had this same tired and anxious expression.

I took the cheque, put it into my pocket with a word of thanks, and
turned to the steps.

"I can't stay, General, while the baby is ill. Sally may need me."

"Well, you're right, Ben, stick to her when she needs you, and you'll
find she'll stick to you. I've always said that gratitude counted
stronger in the sex than love."

As I went down the steps George joined me, and walked with me to the car
line. The look on his face brought to my memory the night I had seen him
staring moodily across the roses and lilies at Sally's bare shoulders,
and the same fierce instinct of possession gnawed in my heart.

"Look here, Ben, I can't bear to think of the way things are going with
Sally," he said.

"I can't bear to think of it myself," I returned gloomily.

"If there's ever anything I can do--remember I am at your service."

"I'll remember it, George," I answered, angry with myself because my
gratitude was shot through with a less noble feeling. "I'll remember it,
and I thank you, too."

"Then it's a bargain. You won't let her suffer because you're too proud
to take help?"

"No, I won't let her suffer if I have to beg to prevent it. Haven't I
just done so?"

He held out his hand, I wrung it in mine, and then, as I got on the car,
he turned away and walked at his lazy step back along the block. Looking
from the car window, as it passed on, I saw his slim, straight figure
moving, with bent head, as if plunged in thought, under the electric
light at the corner.