aned it to Roger Daniels. I
should be much obliged, sir, if you would collect it for me.'

"I went to Roger and made him pay the debt. He paid it in a curious
way--by going to his tailor and buying a hundred dollars' worth of
clothes for Cub and having them charged. It was compounding a felony,
but my client was satisfied and Roger was grateful. He began to have
some regard for me. Not every lawyer had been able to make him pay.
Within a day or so he came to consult me about a mortgage on his
patrimony.

"Roger had married and settled down immediately after his remarkable
cruise. He had kept his party in ignorance of his financial troubles
and returned with his reputation as an aristocrat firmly established.
The gay young Bessie Runnymede had accepted him at once. He had become
junior partner in a firm of brokers and had rented a handsome
residence in Pointview.

"So they began their little play with ladies, lords, and gentlemen in
the cast, and with a country-house, a tandem, a crested limousine, and
a racing launch for scenery. But Roger had what is known as a bad
season. Well, you know, the moving-picture shows had got such a hold
on the public.

"At first we concluded that he must have made another lucky play in
the market. Then, after six months or so, bills against Roger began to
arrive for collection from sundry department stores in the city. He
was a good fellow and had plausible excuses, and I declined to press
payment and returned the bills.

"One day, some eight months after the wedding, an urgent telegram
from Roger brought me to New York. I found the young man in his
office, with his wife at his side. They were both in tears. I sat down
with them, and he told me this story:

"'The fact is, I'm a thief,' he began. 'I have confessed the truth to
my partners. Since my marriage I have taken about twenty thousand
dollars--needed every cent of it to keep going. The fact is, I
expected to make a killing in the market and return the money--had
inside information--but everything went wrong. Yesterday I was cleaned
out.

"'I went home late in the evening. I hoped that my wife would be in
bed, but she was waiting for me. She said that I looked sick, and
wanted to know what was the matter. I told her that I had a headache,
and got into bed as soon as possible; but I couldn't sleep. Long after
midnight my wife rose and turned on the light and came to my bed and
said that she knew I was troubled about something