se."

It took some time to convince the astonished clerk that Mr. Bangs
actually wished five thousand dollars in currency, but he finally was
convinced.

"How will you have it?" he asked. "Small bills or large?"

Galusha apparently did not care. Any denominations would be quite
satisfactory, he affirmed. So, when the transaction was finished, and he
left the Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot office, it was with a new check for
nine thousand, three hundred and ten dollars and thirty-eight cents in
his pocketbook and in his trousers' pocket a roll of bills as thick as
his wrist. By way of modification to this statement, it may be well to
explain that Galusha Bangs' wrists, considered AS wrists, were by no
means thick.

The clerk stared after him as he departed and a fellow clerk paused to
ask questions.

"Who was the old guy?" he inquired.

"Name's Bangs."

"What is he?"

"A nut," was the reply, given with the assurance of absolute conviction.

The "nut" traveled back to East Wellmouth upon the afternoon train
and, back once more in the Phipps' sitting room, "shelled out" upon the
center table. Martha stared at the heap of bills and caught her breath
with a gasp.

Galusha deposited the last bank note upon the table. "There!" he
exclaimed, with satisfaction; "that is all, I believe. And I have
actually gotten it here--all of it. I am quite sure I haven't lost a--a
penny. Dear me, that is a very remarkable thing to do--for me to do, I
mean."

Miss Phipps did not answer and, turning, he saw that she was sitting in
the rocking-chair, her hand to her forehead. Her face was white.

"Dear me!" he exclaimed, in alarm. "Miss Martha, are you ill?"

Still she did not answer and, very much frightened, he hastened to the
door, opened it, and shouted for Primmie. The summons for her handmaiden
acted as a complete restorative. Martha came to life at once.

"WHAT in the world are you callin' Primmie for?" she demanded. "I don't
want her. I wouldn't have her see all that.... Oh, good heavens and
earth!"

Primmie was already in the room. She, as Mr. Bangs would have described
it, bounced in.

"Yes'm--I mean yes, sir," was her salutation. "Here I be.... Oh, my
savin' soul of Isrul!"

She had seen the mound of money upon the table. Two minutes later Martha
and her lodger were again alone in the sitting room. Primmie had been,
gently but firmly, escorted to outer darkness and the door closed behind
her. She was still asking qu