r paused and hesitated, his face scarlet from the deliberate
insult.

"I must really ask your pardon, Mr. Bivens, for my apparent intrusion.
It is only apparent. I came with my daughter."

"Your daughter?"

"She sang to-night on your programme."

"Oh, I see, with the other hired singers; well, what do you want?"

"Only a few minutes of your time on a matter of grave importance."

"I don't care to discuss business here to-night, Woodman," Bivens broke
in abruptly. "Come to my office."

"I have been there three or four times," the doctor went on hurriedly,
"and wrote to you twice. I felt sure that my letters had not reached
you. I hoped for the chance of a moment to-night to lay my case before
you."

Bivens smiled and sat down.

"All right, I'll give you five minutes."

"I felt sure you had not seen my letters."

"I'll ease your mind on that question. I did see them both. You got my
answer?"

"That's just it. I didn't. And I couldn't understand it."

"Oh, I see!" Bivens's mouth quivered with the slightest sneer. "Perhaps
it was lost in transit!"

The sneer was lost on the doctor. He was too intent on his purpose.

"I know. It was a mistake. I see it now, and I'm perfectly willing to
pay for that mistake by accepting even half of your last proposition."

Bivens laughed cynically.

"This might be serious, Woodman, if it wasn't funny. But you had as
well know, once and for all, that I owe you nothing. Your suit has been
lost. Your appeal has been forfeited. My answer is brief but to the
point--_not one cent_--my generosity is for my friends and followers,
not my enemies."

"But we are not enemies, personally," the doctor explained,
good-naturedly. "I have put all bitterness out of my heart and come
to-night to ask that bygones be bygones. You know the history of our
relations and of my business. I need not repeat it. And you know that
in God's great book of accounts you are my debtor."

Bivens's eyes danced with anger, and his words had the ring of cold
steel.

"I owe you nothing."

In every accent of the financier's voice the man before him felt the
deadly merciless hatred whose fires had been smouldering for years.

For a moment he was helpless under the spell of his fierce gaze. He
began to feel dimly something of the little man's powerful personality,
the power that had crushed his enemies.

The doctor's voice was full of tenderness when he replied at last:

"My boy," he began quietly--"fo