amp and all that; but he is--he's a hard man, Jed."

Jed nodded. "Seems to me Ru--your sister said he was a consider'ble
of a professer," he observed.

"Professor? Why no, he was a bond broker."

"I mean that he professed religion a good deal. Called himself a
Christian and such kind of names."

Phillips smiled bitterly. "If he is a Christian I prefer to be a
heathen," he observed.

"Um-hm. Well, maybe he ain't one. You could teach a parrot to
holler 'Praise the Lord,' I cal'late, and the more crackers he got
by it the louder he'd holler. So you never said anything about the
four hundred you had put by, Charlie."

"No. I felt that I had been treated badly and--why, Jed, the man
used to urge me to dress better than I could afford, to belong to
the most expensive club and all that sort of thing. He knew I was
in with a set sporting ten times the money I could muster, and
spending it, too, but he seemed to like to have me associate with
them. Said it was good for the business."

"Sartin! More crackers for Polly. Go on."

"I intended that he should never have that money, but after I came
here, after I had been here for a time, I changed my mind. I saw
things in a different light. I wrote him a letter, told him I
meant to pay back every cent of the two thousand I had taken and
enclosed my check for the seven hundred and fifty I had put by.
Since then I have paid him two hundred and fifty more, goodness
knows how. I have squeezed every penny from my salary that I could
spare. I have paid him half of the two thousand and, if everything
had gone on well, some day or other I would have paid the other
half."

Jed laid a hand on his companion's knee. "Good boy, Charlie," he
said. "And how did the--er--professin' poll parrot act about your
payin' it back?"

Charles smiled faintly. "Just before I talked with you that day,
Jed," he said, "I received a letter from him stating that he did
not feel I was paying as rapidly as I could and that, if he did not
receive another five hundred shortly he should feel it his duty to
communicate with my present employers. Do you wonder I said I
would do almost anything to get the money?"

Jed's hand patted the knee sympathetically.

"Sho, sho, sho!" he exclaimed. "Have you heard from him since?"

"No, I wrote him that I was paying as fast as I could and that if
he communicated with my employers that would end any chances of his
ever getting more. He hasn't wr