worst part
of it. I did not think she'd go back on me. They are furious at her
house. I stopped there, but she wouldn't see me--nobody would. She's
wrong, and when she gets the truth she'll think differently, but it's
pretty hard while it lasts."

Adam laid his hand on Phil's shoulder and looked steadily into his
face.

"Do you regret it, Phil?" The old search-lights were sweeping right
and left again.

"Yes, all the trouble it brings and the injury to the firm and to Mr.
Eggleston, for I don't forget he's my partner. I didn't think it would
end in ruin. I bungled it badly, maybe."

"Are you sorry?"

"No, I'd do it over again!" answered Philip firmly, as he glanced at
the portrait.

Gregg tightened his grasp on Philip's shoulder. "That's the true ring,
my son!" he cried, his eyes filling with tears. "I've never loved you
as I do this minute Now you begin to live. This day marks the parting
of the roads: From this day you go forward, not back. It doesn't make
any difference what happens or what things you----"

"And you don't think Madeleine will----"

"Think Madeleine will lose her love for you! You don't know the
girl--not for one minute. Of course, everything is upside down, and of
course there'll be bad blood. Mr. Eggleston is angry, but he'll get
over it. What he has lost to-day he has made a dozen times over in his
career in a single turn in stocks, and will again. Keep your head up!
Finish your work at the office; pay every cent you owe; come back here
and let me know if anything is left, and then we'll see Madeleine.
You'll find my check-book in that desk at your elbow. I'll sign as
many checks in blank as you want and you can fill them up at your
leisure. We'll fight this thing out together and we'll win. Madeleine
stop loving you! I'll stake my head she won't!"

* * * * *

Events move with great rapidity in the Street. When a tin case the
size of a candle-box can be brought in by two men and a million of
property dumped out on a table, an immediate accounting of assets is
not difficult. Once their value is fixed by the referee they can be
dealt to those interested as easily as a pack of cards.

By noon of the following day not only did the firm of Philip Colton &
Co. know exactly where they stood, but so did every one of the firm's
creditors: Seventy per cent cash and thirty per cent in sixty days was
the settlement. All their outside stocks had been closed out unde