rich. And who
sent him there? Why, Sam Hunniwell and his gang. You're one of
'em, Jed Winslow. To hell with you, every one of you, daughters
and all hands."

"But, Phin--just a minute. Think of what it'll mean to Charlie,
poor young feller. It'll mean--"

"It'll mean ten years this time, and a good job, too. You poor
fool, do you think you can talk me out of this? You, you sawdust-
head? What do you think I came into your hole here for? I came
here so's you'd know what I was goin' to do to your precious chums.
I wanted to tell you and have the fun of watchin' you squirm.
Well, I'm havin' the fun, plenty of it. Squirm, you Wall Street
bloodsucker, squirm."

He fairly stood on tiptoe to scream the last command. To a
disinterested observer the scene might have had some elements of
farce comedy. Certainly Phineas, his hat fallen off and under
foot, his scanty gray hair tousled and his pugnacious chin beard
bristling, was funny to look at. And the idea of calling Jed
Winslow a "Wall Street bloodsucker" was the cream of burlesque.
But to Jed himself it was all tragedy, deep and dreadful. He made
one more desperate plea.

"But, Phin," he begged, "think of his--his sister, Charlie's
sister. What'll become of her and--and her little girl?"

Phineas snorted. "His sister," he sneered. "All right, I'll think
about her all right. She's another stuck-up that don't speak to
common folks. Who knows anything about her any more'n they did
about him? Better look up her record, I guess. The boy's turned
out to be a thief; maybe the sister'll turn out to be--"

"Stop! Be still!"

Jed actually shouted it. Babbitt stopped, principally because the
suddenness of the interruption had startled him into doing so. But
the pause was only momentary. He stared at the interrupter in
enraged amazement for an instant and then demanded: "Stop? Who are
you tellin' to stop?"

"You."

"I want to know! Well, I'll stop when I get good and ready and if
you don't like it, Shavin's, you can lump it. That Phillips kid
has turned out to be a thief and, so far as anybody 'round here
knows, his sister may be--"

"Stop!" Again Jed shouted it; and this time he rose to his feet.
Phineas glared at him.

"Humph!" he grunted. "You'll make me stop, I presume likely."

"Yes."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it's got to be so. Look here, Phin, I realize you're mad and
don't care much what you say, but there's a limit, you know. It