failure to hinder me at every turn--a hopeless fight."

"But,"--Betty's voice faltered nervously--"isn't it cowardly to run away
just when the fight is hardest? A soldier would be called a traitor if
he did that. And what would come afterwards? Do you believe that you
have a right to take your own life?"

"You mean from a religious point of view. I'm afraid that's out of my
line. I have lost what little faith I had in these last few years. You
believe in it all, of course--it's natural for a girl--but to me the
idea of a personal God is as unreal as a fairy tale. It does not touch
my position."

"But just suppose for a moment that it _were_ true. Suppose He does
exist, and has been longing to help you all this time--what then?" cried
Betty earnestly, and her companion gave a short, derisive laugh.

"It would have been easy enough for Him to have prevented all this
trouble! I can see no help in the story of the last few years.
Everything has gone against me. In the beginning I borrowed some
money--of course, it's a case of money--to help a friend who was in a
tight fix. That was innocent enough. But when the time came round I
could not repay the debt, and in my position it was fatally easy to help
myself to what I needed. I called it just another loan. I was sure of
repaying it before anything was discovered, but again it was impossible,
for there were calls upon me which I had not expected. If I had been
short in my accounts I should have lost my situation, and it was a
handsome one for a man of my age. You won't understand the details, but
I began to speculate, to put off the evil hour, always hoping for a
_coup_ which would put everything right; but it never came. I was not
helped, you see! Things went from bad to worse, until I could go on no
longer. Then in despair I confessed the whole story to my friend--he is
a near relation also, but that is by the way. He would not allow the
family name to be disgraced; he paid up all that was due, and saved me
the shame of prosecution, but even he could do no more. I am sent about
my business--a felon in deed, though not in name. Incidentally, too, he
is ruined. He must give up his house, remove his children to cheap
schools, live in poverty instead of ease. Naturally enough he will have
no more to do with me. There is not a soul on earth who would regret me
if I passed out of being to-night."

There was a long silence while the strangely-matched