a moment later, affirming that he was late at the
bank already.

"Course the cashier's there and the rest of the help," he added,
"but it takes all hands and the cat to keep Lute from puttin' the
kindlin' in the safe and lightin' up the stove with ten dollar
bills. So long."

After he had gone Jed turned to his remaining visitor. His voice
shook a little as he spoke.

"You haven't told him!" he faltered, reproachfully. "You--you
haven't told him!"

She shook her head. "I couldn't--I couldn't," she declared.
"DON'T look at me like that. Please don't! I know it is wrong. I
feel like a criminal; I feel wicked. But," defiantly, "I should
feel more wicked if I had told him and my brother had lost the only
opportunity that might have come to him. He WILL make good, Mr.
Winslow. I KNOW he will. He will make them respect him and like
him. They can't help it. See!" she cried, her excitement and
agitation growing; "see how Mr. Reed, the bank president there at
home, the one who wrote that letter, see what he did for Charles!
He knows, too; he knows the whole story. I--I wrote to him. I
wrote that very night when you told me, Mr. Winslow. I explained
everything, I begged him--he is an old, old friend of our family--
to do this thing for our sakes. You see, it wasn't asking him to
lie, or to do anything wrong. It was just that he tell of Charles
and his ability and character as he knew them. It wasn't wrong,
was it?"

Jed did not answer.

"If it was," she declared, "I can't help it. I would do it again--
for the same reason--to save him and his future, to save us all. I
can't help what you think of me. It doesn't matter. All that does
matter is that you keep silent and let my brother have his chance."

Jed, leaning forward in his chair by the workbench, put his hand to
his forehead.

"Don't--don't talk so, Mrs. Armstrong," he begged. "You know--you
know I don't think anything you've done is wrong. I ain't got the
right to think any such thing as that. And as for keepin' still--
why, I--I did hope you wouldn't feel 'twas necessary to ask that."

"I don't--I don't. I know you and I trust you. You are the only
person in Orham whom I have trusted. You know that."

"Why, yes--why, yes, I do know it and--and I'm ever so much obliged
to you. More obliged than I can tell you, I am. Now--now would
you mind tellin' me just one thing more? About this Mr. What's-
his-name out West in the bank ther